French national railway operator SNCF has launched a €462m (£366m) cash bid to take over Geodis, thereby effectively renationalising the business 12 years after its privatisation. SNCF already owns 42.4% of the share capital and 45.8% of the voting rights in Geodis. If the deal goes through, SNCF will be the fourth biggest road freight operator in Europe behind DHL, Deutsche Bahn and Kuehne+Nagel.
SNCF chairman Guillaume Pepy says the group wants to "rally its strengths, without changing
its structure" and that "this will make transport and logistics the main job of SNCF". Geodis employs 26,200 people in France and abroad and generated a turnover of €4.8bn (£3.9bn) in 2007. Combining Geodis and SNCF's freight division would generate a pro-rata turnover of €7.7bn (£6bn).
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