Walden Group finalises acquisition of Relais Colis

Paris, February 24, 2022 – The Walden Group, a major player in supply-chain and logistics in Europe, completed yesterday the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Relais Colis, the leading network of relay point pickup and home delivery of parcels to individuals in France and a key partner in e-commerce. With this acquisition, the Walden Group continues its development and pursues its omnichannel strategy, responding to the needs of the market and its customers.

With the addition of Relais Colis, the Walden Group augments its express transport division dedicated to last mile solutions in Europe, currently operated through the companies Ciblex, DPXS, Eco Courses Optic and Sopharty. Walden is opening up new distribution channels to its current and future customers by expanding its offerings and will now, through the acquisition of Relais Colis, offer a sustainable BtoC delivery service to complement its BtoB services.

With more than 70 years of expertise, the French family business developed by three generations of entrepreneurs is now present in 16 European countries. With a turnover of 1.7 billion euros in 2021 and 5,300 employees, 2,600 of whom are in France, the Walden Group continues its expansion with Relais Colis, a pioneer in the delivery of parcels at relay points with its 6,300 collection points, 22 agencies and 45 million parcels delivered each year. With 50 years of expertise, the Relais Colis group, present in 92% of France, represents a major strategic opportunity for the Walden Group. While Ciblex, Walden’s express transport division, already offers local delivery services to businesses throughout France, this transaction will enable the group to become a key player in the transport sector while retaining its historical expertise.

Stéphane Baudry, Chairman of the Walden Group: “The acquisition of Relais Colis represents a real turning point for the Walden Group. This opportunity is part of the group’s long-term vision and will fortify the future of Walden and all its employees. It is now essential to respond to the needs of the market and of our business customers who have been waiting for a bridge to B2C deliveries. I have every confidence in Christophe Cornilleau, CEO of Walden Express International, to ensure the best possible integration of Relais Colis. We want to put to use the B2B rigour acquired over the years by Ciblex while gaining new skills thanks to the B2C expertise of Relais Colis. The specialisation of each of the two entities will enable us to achieve excellence in each of them.”

The delivery sector is changing rapidly and more and more consumers and professionals are looking for access to express delivery within one day. The growth of e-commerce, confirmed with the pandemic, should reinforce the need for relay points throughout France. The addition of the 22 Relais Colis branches to the 123 existing Ciblex branches will enable the group’s express networks and their connections to be rapidly expanded to meet the growing demand from both professionals and consumers.

About Relais Colis

Inventor of the concept of delivery to local relay points since 1983, Relais Colis is the leading network of delivery to individuals at relay points and at home. Relais Colis is the partner of many e-commerce players and offers a complete range of increasingly innovative solutions combining delivery to local pick up points, delivery between individuals and home delivery for oversized parcels. With the aim of always being at the forefront in terms of services and customer experience for delivery, and to meet the challenges of the market, Relais Colis has developed new, efficient, and effective connection and traceability solutions, accessible to all consumers, and new mechanised platforms to deliver ever faster. In 2021, Relais Colis delivered more than 45 million parcels to consumers, including 2 million home deliveries, using an integrated network of 4 national hubs, 22 regional agencies and 6,300 local retail partners in mainland France.

À propos du groupe Walden

Founded in 1951 in France, the Walden Group is a family-owned company whose ambition is to become a global player in supply chain and logistics. Its activities are grouped around two poles of expertise: on the one hand, logistics and transport of health products (with Movianto for logistics, Eurotranspharma for temperature-controlled last mile transport and Transpharma International for first mile transport) and, on the other hand, an express transport pole (with Ciblex, DPXS, and Eco course Optic). To support its activities, the group relies on another subsidiary, Pharma Pilot, which develops IT and digital solutions tailored to the specificities of the group’s business. The Walden Group has developed rapidly, notably with the recent acquisition of Movianto in June 2020. Present in 15 countries (France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Morocco, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, India and Romania), the group employs more than 5,300 people on 180 sites and nearly 800,000 m² of warehouses. The Walden Group had a turnover of €1.7 billion in 2021.   

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