Polish parcel service provider InPost has announced plans to acquire 100% shares in Mondial Relay, a leading French ecommerce out-of-home (OOH) parcel delivery platform, for approximately €565m (US$671m).
The acquisition is part of InPost’s plans to become Europe’s leading out-of-home solution for ecommerce and continue its international growth following a successful year in 2020.
InPost are expanding rapidly and here at home in the UK have started a roll out of their locker solution at over 60 Tfl sites across London. With the Mondial Relay acquisition, they are set to turbo boost their operations in France and surrounding countries. Mondial have nearly 11,000 Point Relais in France, 1,200 in Belgium, 500 in the Netherlands and 2,900 in Spain. Typically they are in supermarkets, newsagents, dry cleaners, florists, optician – local businesses for local out-of-home delivery collection or returns.
An interesting aspect of the acquisition is that Otto Group is the previous owner of Mondial Relay. InPost seem to be buying various bits of Otto’s logistics operations, with Advent International acquiring a 75% stake in Hermes UK and 25% stake in Hermes Germany – Advent International are a major Inpost investor.
Otto Group are primarily known for being a marketplace and built their Hermes logistics arm, originally to deliver their own sales but this soon changed, seeing Hermes becoming one of Europe’s best known couriers.
InPost is Poland’s biggest out-of-home delivery proposition and similarly they have established themselves in the UK as the best known locker solution. Perhaps in part driven by the Coronavirus pandemic boosting attractiveness of contactless deliveries, they are set for ever faster expansion both in the UK and across Europe.
