Repeated sale announcements, tight negotiations and an unexpected outcome: only three months after Curiero confirmed it would sell 25% to Asesoft, the company's chairman, Bogdan Carcu, changed his mind.
A deal will be sealed, eventually, but with RTC, the group owned by businessman Octavian Radu, reads BUSINESS Magazin.
TCE, the logistics arm of RTC group, would therefore swallow Curiero.
Though the new firm, to be called RTC Logistica, still ranks third among couriers, after Fan Courier and Cargus, "in terms of turnover we are quite close to the top two players," stated Octavian Radu, adding that "with a 26m-euro turnover, we enter the league of long-term survivors".
After the merger, the company will be controlled by two main shareholders: RTC will own 70%, with the rest of 30% to be divided between the partners of Marchessa SA, now holding 99.9% in Curiero, and George Cosmin Coman, with the rest of 0.1%.
The merger, to be finalised in two months at the latest, after the Competition Council gives the green light, involves costs only for RTC.
"This is a deal carried out in the form of a 3m-euro capital increase. Nobody takes any money home," specifies Radu, adding the reason behind this step was linked to the financial difficulties Curiero has had lately, posting debts equalling the capital increase in terms of value.
RTC owner says his decision to take over Curiero was based on a logical reason: "On the delivery services market one grows or dies. There's no middle way. And we were not competitive on the market."
In RTC owner's opinion, to be competitive, a courier has to be able to pay rents and routes at a cost level of at least 1m euros per year. Radu had previously intended to sell TCE Logistica, with 11m-euro turnover last year, two times less than rivals such as Fan Courier or Cargus. However, after talks with several investors and bids he was not satisfied with, he decided he would not totally relinquish his company and found out he stood more chances to gain in the wake of an acquisition.
Through this merger, says Carcu, the two companies would complement each other "excellently" and together they would "continue to grow also counting on the resources RTC brings along".
The alliance seemed profitable to all shareholders. The two companies' operations are complementary and the move is expected to generate "bigger revenues and much stronger growth than we would have been able to get on our own," says Octavian Radu.
To what extent would Radu be now interested in selling the firm? "The new firm will be even better for sale," he says, estimating RTC Logistica has the potential to reach 100m-euro turnover in four or five years.
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