The Autorité de la concurrence clears the takeover of certain Sernam assets by Calberson

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Calberson S.A.S. (Calberson) has informed the Autorité de la concurrence of the exclusive control of certain assets of Sernam Services S.N.C. (Sernam), with these assets mainly comprising the parcel delivery business of the Sernam group.

The operation falls within the framework of the court-ordered receivership procedure opened by the Nanterre commercial court on 31 January 2012. On 13 April 2012, the commercial court accepted the Calberson offer.

The companies

Calberson is owned by Géodis, itself a subsidiary of the SNCF group. Géodis operates in the goods haulage sector, its activities being grouped into four main divisions: the commissioning of sea and air transport, contractual logistics, parcel delivery and road haulage.

The Sernam assets acquired by Calberson concern the parcel delivery, transport commissioning and logistic services.

After analysis, the Autorité found that the operation was not likely to have an adverse effect on competition in the markets concerned.

In the BtoB express domestic shipping sector specifically, the Autorité found that the relatively high market shares of the new entity in the category of shipments over 30 kg were such as to be limited by the counterweight of purchasers, as well as the reaction capacity of competitors.

The Autorité found, on the one hand, that the main competitors had residual production capacities, but also that Géodis was not the only player able to meet the needs of customers in this market, most of these deeming to have a strong negotiating power vis à vis their haulers and generally using 2 or 3 providers to secure their flow.

The Autorité de la concurrence therefore clears, without conditions, the takeover plan presented by Calberson.

> Full text of decision 12-DCC-153 of 12 November 2012 shall be published shortly on the website of the Autorité de la concurrence.



> Press contact: André Piérard – Tel.: +33 (0)1 55 04 02 28 / Contact by email

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