CMA CGM offers $5.5 billion for logistics arm of Bolloré Group

French container transportation giant CMA CGM Group has offered to pay $5.5 billion to acquire the transportation and logistics activities of the Bolloré Group, a fellow French corporation that also runs communications and publishing, electricity systems and storage, and agricultural assets.

The two companies are currently discussing terms of the offer, but CMA CGM warned that “the negotiations in no way guarantee an acquisition in the end.”

The Bolloré Group was founded in 1822 and is publicly traded but is still majority controlled by the Bolloré family. In 2021, the group reported having 73,000 employees worldwide and gross revenue of $21.6 billion. 

Under that umbrella, the Bolloré Logistics division operates in 148 countries, employs 15,000 people, and moves some 390,000 tons of air freight and 710,000 TEUs of ocean freight per year. The unit says it offers seven core service categories: multimodal transport, trade compliance, contract logistics, global supply chain, industrial projects, e-commerce, and customer value. 

If a deal goes through, it would mark the second time in recent months that the Bolloré Group has sold off part of its logistics operations, following its deal in 2022 to sell Bolloré Africa Logistics—which includes all of the company’s transport and logistics activities on that continent—to container shipping giant the MSC Group for $6.24 billion.

CMA CGM has been expanding quickly through acquisitions in recent months, including an offer for Mediterranean shipping line La Méridionale, two terminals at the Port of New York and New Jersey operated by Global Container Terminals Inc. (GCT), a 9% stake in the air freight operator Air France-KLM, and the parcel delivery firm Colis Privé, all since 2022.