Geodis sells Zust Ambrosetti to Ferrari

Milan - The French logistics group Geodis will sell the Italian subsidiary Züst Ambrosetti to AF Logsitics, controlled by the Ferrari group. The agreement was finalized by both parties on July 11th. With the sale of Züst Ambrosetti, Geodis confirms the strategy started a few years ago. The group is present in Italy’s logistics sector through Geodis Wilson and Geodis Logistica, in addition to the road transport company Geodis Bm. At Geodis, the messenger services (Calberson) and the express courier service (France Exrpress) are concentrated in Europe through partnerships. Züst Ambrosetti was an exception. As a matter of fact, all attempts in the 90s to integrate a European network through the acquisition of the Sceta Calberson group (which is today’s Geodis) have essentially led to significant failures in Great Britain, Germany and Spain, in particular. These subsidiaries, which were very expensive to manage, have been closed and replaced by partnership agreements.

Züst Ambrosetti, acquired at the end of the 90s, has always been at the heart of Geodis’s financial efforts – this can be confirmed by documents published by the group, up to the point when the company was publicly traded. The output from Euronext dates back to 2008;, according to the French portal Wk Tl, those were the last public records about the profitability of Züst Ambrosetti. But the recurrent difficulties in Europe, together with the intention to sell, may suggest that the recovery, if there was any, did not meet the expectations of the shareholders. According to the terms of the sale agreement, AF Logistics will absorb all 288 employees and the operational offices of the company. Züst Ambrosetti has total revenues for 125 million euros in 2013. The brand will go on. Zust Ambrosetti will continue to provide transport from and to the warehouses of Geodis Logistics in Italy. AF Logistics, a subsidiary of the Ferrari Group, is a specialist in the logistics and transport sectors in Italy. With a dozen regional offices, it created revenues of over 100 million euros in 2013.