Takeover of Wincanton completed by US giant

GLOBAL logistics giant GXO has completed its acquisition of Wiltshire-based Wincanton in a deal worth £762m.

The US company was given the green light by the UK government to take over the Chippenham-headquartered business after it struck a deal with the firm in March.

GXO won the backing of Wincanton bosses despite an earlier takeover offer from French-based Ceva Logistics. Wincanton said last month it would “unanimously” recommend the GXO offer to its shareholders.

GXO said yesterday that all conditions of the acquisition had been met and it was now the sole shareholder of Wincanton.

Under the agreement, GXO has acquired the entire share capital of Wincanton for 605 pence per share in cash.

The businesses will continue to be run independently until the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has completed its review, the firm added.

GXO chief executive 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 longterm growth trajectory.”

GXO said it expected to create “significant value” for stakeholders by allowing new and existing customers to benefit from a broader range of services and capabilities across an expanded global platform.

The firm said the acquisition would expand its offering and customer base in several industries in the UK including aerospace, utilities, industrial and healthcare.

The deal will also lead to full annual net run-rate cost synergies of £45m (pre-tax) by the third year of integration, GXO added.