News / M&A activity in transport and logistics off to a strong start in 2026

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If the first week of January is anything to go by, 2026 could turn out to be a busy year for M&A in the freight transport, logistics and related sectors.

In France, two SME forwarders, Ovrsea and Fatton Lyseo, one ‘digital’ and the other ‘legacy’, are merging their activities, with the combined entity employing more than 1,000 and generating an annual turnover of some €350m($407.6m).

This could rise to €500m within three years after leveraging any sysnergies between the two companies.

Fatton, whose origins go back as far as 1909, merged with Lyon-based counterpart Lyseo in 2024.

Fatton Lyseo and Ovrsea said they were “in the same business, but with two different approaches”, adding that the aim was “to build, through organic and external growth”.

Ovrsea was founded as recently on 2017 and is majority-owned by Bolloré Group, one of the few businesses that wasn’t part of the sale of the conglomerate’s air and ocean logistics assets to CMA CGM and MSC.

It provides digital tools, operating software and AI-based services  to some 1,500 client companies.

Fatton Lyseo has a network of 55 offices and a strong presence in China. With Ovrsea, this will increase to more than 60 offices in 14 countries.

Meanwhile, a potentially multibillion-euro deal is taking shape in the ecommerce space. Europe’s largest network of 24-hour parcel lockers, InPost, which is quoted on Amsterdam’s stock exchange, is reported to be the target of a takeover bid from US capital investment firm Advent International.

This week, Poland-based InPost disclosed it had received “an indicative proposal regarding a potential acquisition of all shares in the company”.

InPost has been in strong growth mode in recent years with investments in its out-of-home parcel lockers network and the acquisition of several companies, among them UK-based Yodel and Spanish express operator Sending.

In the US, Atlanta-based Stord, a fast-growing cloud-based supply chain platform serving ecommerce brands, closed the purchase of Shipwire, a subsidiary of Ceva Logistics, on 1 January.

The acquisition adds 12 fulfilment locations to Stord’s network, expanding its footprint in the EU and UK and preserving Shipwire’s access to Ceva’s global infrastructure.

Back in Europe, DX has announced the acquisition of HBC Logistics, a same-day services business based in the UK.

The acquisition comes just six months after the appointment of Ian Truesdale as CEO by DX’s parent company, HIG Capital, an alternative investment firm with $70bn of assets under management. It marks the first step in DX’s next phase of growth, said the company.

And last month saw logistics group Geodis acquire Malherbe, a full-truckload (FTL) road freight transport specialist with a network of 40 branch offices, a fleet of some 1,500 trucks, and employing more than 3,300 people nationwide.

Finally, the end of last year saw another French road haulage and logistics group, Jacky Perrenot, enter exclusive negotiations to acquire Vos Logistics, a Netherlands-based operator with an annual turnover of  some €400m, employing 2,700 personnel and operating a 5,000-strong vehicle fleet and 300,000 sq metres of warehousing.