The Williames Group distribution company has been acquired by German Parcel, a subsidiary of the state-owned British Post Office, in a £10 million sterling deal.
Williames was a private company, owned since 1988 by its managing director, Mr Stephen Fitzgerald.
It has an annual turnover of £25 million and 200 employees. No profits figures were available from either Williames or the Post Office yesterday. The company operates in the parcels, logistics and air-freight markets and has bases in Dublin and Shannon. It is the Irish franchisee for the General Parcel Group, a Europe-wide grouping of road network distribution and logistics companies.
German Parcel, which was acquired by the British Post Office earlier this year in a £250 million sterling deal, owns 23 per cent of General Parcel.
Mr Stephen Fitzgerald will continue to head the Irish operation. In a statement, he described the sale as "good news for the Williames Group, its customers and employees, as it will provide a boost for development plans". He was not available for further comment.
The sale of Williames is the second major deal involving a privately-owned Irish distribution or logistics operation within the last 18 months. In July 1998, the Dublin-based Walsh Western Logistics operation was acquired by Exel Logistics for a maximum of just under £40 million - the deal involved earn outs.
Exel is a subsidiary of the British publicly-quoted transport group NFC, whose chief executive is Mr Gerry Murphy, previously a chief executive of Greencore. The main beneficiary of that deal was the then Walsh Western 90 per cent shareholder Mr Michael Enright, from Limerick.
The Williames Group operation "will dovetail extremely well with our existing operations and further enhance the overall scope of our operations across Europe", according to Mr Rico Back, the managing director of PO European Parcels.
The British Post Office Group, which the British government plans to restructure as a public limited company, reported turnover of £7,010 million sterling and pre-tax profits of £608 million for its 1998/99 financial year.
The latest acquisition demonstrated the Post Office's ambition to be one of Europe's top distribution companies, according to its statement. The group's parcel operation has been expanded into mainland Europe and the US through a number of acquisitions.
In addition to German Parcel, the Post Office has acquired Der Kurier for £10 million sterling to consolidate its position in the German market. It has a stake in City Mail in Sweden and Royal Mail US in North America.
Announcing its latest results last July, the company commented: "Increasingly, international customers are demanding a single supplier for all their mail services - we're aiming to be a British success story both at home and overseas."
