Third-party logistics provider Wincanton today [29 April] announced that its acquisition by GXO has officially been completed.
A copy of the court order was delivered to to the Registrar of Companies and the scheme has become effective, with GXO now owning the entire issued share capital of Wincanton.
This brings an end to an interesting saga surrounding Wincanton’s acquisition that began with a bid from CMA CGM in January 2024. By the end of February, GXO had entered the race with an offer of £6.05 per share to compete with CMA CGM’s increased offer of £4.80 per share.
Then, in March, Wincanton confirmed that it would be proceeding with the GXO offer. The board announced the directors’ intention to recommend the GXO offer and, accordingly, that they had withdrawn their recommendation of the revised offer from CMA CGM.
Upon the scheme becoming effective, several of Wincanton’s non-executive directors have resigned from the board. These include Sir Martin Read CBE, Gillian Barr, Anthony Bickerstaff, Mihiri Jayaweera, Deborah Lentz and John Pattullo OBE. Wincanton says that its executive directors, James Wroath and Tom Hinton, will remain on the board.
The two companies will continue to be run independently until the conclusion of a review by the UK Competition and Markets Authority.
CEO of GXO Malcolm Wilson said: “We are very pleased to complete this valuable acquisition for our company, which advances our position as the global pure-play logistics leader, and we look forward to welcoming Wincanton’s high-quality team to GXO.
“By combining Wincanton’s footprint and proven expertise in the UK and Ireland with our global reach and transformative technology, we can provide a wider range of services to new and existing customers across geographies – and accelerate our long-term growth trajectory.”
In a statement, GXO stated that it expects that the acquisition will ‘lead to full annual net run-rate cost synergies of £45m (pre-tax) by the third year of integration’.
