Following its interest expressed at the beginning of the week, the American GXO Logistics formalized its offer for the British logistics solutions company Wincanton on February 29, with a 26% premium over the improved proposal from the CMA CGM group through Ceva Logistics. The latter has until March 6 to make a counter-offer. In the meantime, the share price is soaring.

On February 29, US-based GXO Logistics formalized a £762 million (€889 million) takeover bid for British logistics solutions company Wincanton, more than that proposed by French shipping company CMA CGM, sending the target company soaring on the stock market.

The board of GXO Logistics said it was preparing an offer "at 605 pence in cash" per share, which "values the entire share capital [...] of Wincanton at approximately 762 million pounds", the group announced. Wincanton shares jumped 22% to 621 pence on the London Stock Exchange at around 16:00 GMT on February 29.

The bidding rises

In January, CMA CGM announced an initial agreement to buy Wincanton, a London-listed company with 20,300 employees at over 170 sites and 8,500 vehicles.

On February 26, Ceva Logistics, a subsidiary of CMA CGM, had improved its previous bid for Wincanton to around £604.7 million, and the shipowner said it would not raise it - except in the event of a competing offer.

On February 29, Ceva said it had "taken note of GXO's offer and is studying its options", and had four days to raise its offer in response to GXO's offer.

Wincanton's Board of Directors, which had confirmed on the same day that it had been approached by GXO Logistics, had announced on February 26 that it had not yet received a formal proposal and continued to "unanimously recommend to shareholders [...] the increased and definitive cash offer from Ceva Logistics".

La rédaction (avec l’AFP)