Danish group snaps up Prime Cargo, an international forwarder with ‘strong competencies’ in the field of e-commerce and fashion retail. DSV Panalpina has announced the acquisition of international forwarder, Prime Cargo from its owner, Japanese logistics provider, Mitsui-Soko Group.
The transaction, the value of which has not been disclosed, includes the company’s activities in Denmark, Poland and China.
Headquartered in Kolding, Denmark, Prime Cargo was established in 1998 as a privately-held enterprise. In 2015, it was acquired by Mitsui-Soko Group.
“Prime Cargo is a company that DSV Panalpina has looked at with much respect for several years due to the company’s high degree of specialisation within selected verticals where DSV Panalpina has little activity,” DSV Panalpina said in a statement.
“With Prime Cargo’s strong competencies in the field of e-commerce and fashion retail, of which the current fashion product setup in China plays an important part, the company is a perfect match for DSV Panalpina’s Danish Solutions division and Air & Sea division, respectively.”
New opportunities
The acquisition “offers new opportunities” for both companies and their customers, the statement noted. Prime Cargo’s customers will benefit from a global network and new services, and existing DSV customers will get access to strong capabilities within e-commerce and fashion retail.
“Together, we can offer our customers much more. We will strengthen the product offerings to our combined global customer portfolios, which will have a global one-stop service with great value-adding services,”commented Henrik Nielsen, EVP, DSV Air & Sea, Northern Europe.
State-of-the-art e-commerce
According to the statement, Prime Cargo is renowned for its high degree of expertise within e-commerce. The company operates fully automated, state-of-the-art e-commerce warehouses, a technology that DSV is familiar with and recently installed in a new warehouse in Oslo, Norway.
With Prime Cargo’s competencies onboard, DSV Panalpina and Prime Cargo will have the ability to accelerate the e-commerce effort on a much larger scale, it added.
“Prime Cargo in Denmark is a renowned and leading brand in e-commerce and fashion logistics. It fits perfectly into the strategic portfolio of our Danish DSV divisions. In e-commerce we will offer state-of-the-art competitive automated warehousing services with ambitious growth opportunities,” said Marcel Blomjous, managing director, DSV Solutions, Denmark.
Growth strategy
The managing director of Prime Cargo, Morten Høilund, welcomed the acquisition by DSV Panalpina, highlighting that the high degree of specialisation that the company brings to the table, will allow it to be part of a large-scale growth strategy.
“We are proud that DSV Panalpina values Prime Cargo’s strong competencies within e-commerce and fashion and that these will act as cornerstones in the growth strategy for the Danish organisations. We believe the acquisition provides a unique opportunity to link our industry focus with DSV’s global network.”
The transaction is expected to complete within 2-3 months subject to customary conditions, including clearance by applicable competition authorities. Until then Prime Cargo and DSV Panalpina will conduct their businesses as usual and independently.
Source: LLoyd’s
