German investment holding Mutares takes control off Nexive, a leader in postal and shipping services in Italy

The German investment holding Mutares has acquired an 80% stake in the Italian company Nexive, active in postal and shipping services and number two in Italy in the sector, immediately after Poste Italiane. The seller is PostNL, an Amsterdam-listed company and the most important mail and parcel service provider in the Netherlands, which will still hold a 20% stake in the newco which will acquire Nexive.(see here the Mutares press release and here the PostNPL one). The transaction, subject to suspensive conditions, is expected to close by the second quarter of 2020.
Based in Milan, Nexive was born with the name of TNT Post and changed its brand to Nexive in 2014. The company provides postal services to 80% of Italian families and parcel delivery services to the entire Italian market. It has over 8,000 employees and a network of over 2,000 stores throughout Italy. In recent years Nexive has strengthened its position by expanding its portfolio and launching innovative services, including E-box, which offers total track & trace on postal items. In 2016, it also expanded its parcel network through the introduction of the Slim System, a solution for parcel boxes in letters which forms the basis for future growth and success. Nexive has about 8,000 direct employees and closed 2018 with revenues of 175.2 million euros, an ebitda of 6 millions and a net liquidity of 137k euros (see here the analysis by Leanus, once registered for free).
The acquisition of Nexive will strengthen Mutares’ goods & srvices portfolio segment. Robin Laik, ceo of Mutares SE & Co KGaA commented: “We look forward to developing Nexive in our portfolio and will support the future repositioning and growth path of the company. We aim to further grow its nationwide network, to further develop the last-mile business as well as to enhance operational and administrative efficiency.”
Herna Verhagen, ceo of PostNL, said: “This transaction will allow Nexive to further develop its business and to build its position in the Italian mail and parcel market. For PostNL, the sale of the majority stake in Nexive underpins our strategy of focusing on our core markets in the Benelux region and supporting our transformation into an e‑commerce logistics and postal service provider.”
Luciano Traja, ceo of Nexive added: “This step gives us the opportunity to take the Nexive business to the next stage in achieving our strategy. We are well positioned to benefit from the innovation and solutions that we have introduced for our customers in recent years. Our strategy is aimed at our growing market share and taking full advantage of ongoing growth in the Italian e-commerce market.”
Nexive is the second acquisition of 2020 in Italy for Mutaress, a German holding listed on the Xetra in Frankfurt. At the beginning of February Mutares, through the subsidiary Balcke-Duerr, a company that creates solutions for energy efficiency and the reduction of emissions for utilities and the chemical industry, took over Loterios, an Italian company that designs and produces pressure equipment in materials special, in particular titanium, for various industrial sectors (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
Last December Mutares had instead taken over Tekfor spa, the Italian subsidiary of the German group Tekfor active in the production of high performance components for the automotive and low weight sector and in the search for innovative products for the future (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
Mutares was founded in 2008 in Munich, where it is still based, by Robin Laik and Axel Geuer. The company is focused on the growth of the sectors: auto and mobility; engineering and technology; goods and services. It aims to acquire small and medium-sized enterprises with a turnover of between 50 and 500 million euros, which find themselves in situations of difficulty or great change, and then grow them. In 2019 it conducted 10 acquisitions, bringing its consolidated turnover to over 1.5 billion euros.