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Raben Fenthols Transport

Acquisition approved

Fenthols becomes part of Raben Group in June
2020.06.04

The logistics service provider takes over one of the oldest German freight forwarding companies Fenthol & Sandtmann GmbH (Fenthols) will be fully integrated into Raben Trans European Germany GmbH on 1 June 2020. The international logistics service provider Raben, with its German headquarters in Mannheim, has already held 50 percent of Fenthols shares since 2011. In November Raben Group signed a purchase agreement with the Ehrig family to take over the remaining 50 percent of their shares including the subsidiaries FKL Kontraktlogistik and Kraftverkehr P&M Ehrig. The antitrust authorities have meanwhile approved the acquisition. According to the agreement, Raben will take over all Fenthols locations in Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden and Erlensee near Frankfurt am Main as well as 460 employees. 

With the Fenthols integration, two successful logistics providers will merge and concentrate their central activities in Germany - in the heart of Europe. With the German Fenthols branches, Raben is taking over first-class logistics locations. This merger also offers Fenthols a new perspective.

"Due to the Europe-wide standard we are able to benefit from the international know-how of Raben Group and thus further increase the quality of our services", says Jens Hirschberg, Branch Manager at the Hamburg site.

Both companies have already worked together very successfully in the past years.

Fenthol & Sandtmann GmbH, founded in Leipzig in 1827, is one of the oldest forwarding companies in Germany. The owner-managed company offers road, sea and air transport services as well as contract logistics and it achieved a turnover of 125 million euros in 2019. With the complete integration into Raben Group, customers now can benefit from a much more powerful and larger network with 39 branches throughout Germany. More than 10,000 employees work for Raben throughout Europe. The Group also has 8,500 means of transport and warehouse capacity of around 1,150,000 square meters.

Raben Group acquires locations in excellent locations

Raben Group is expanding its range of services due to the agreement with Fenthols. In addition to gaining strategically excellent locations, such as near the Frankfurt Airport, Raben Group will be adding a hazardous goods warehouse in Erlensee, Hessen, and a branch at the Leipzig Cargo Airport next to the A14 motorway to its network, where the subsidiary, Fenthols Kontraktlogistik GmbH, organizes warehousing and distribution logistics for numerous companies. With the acquisition of Fenthols headquarters directly at the Port of Hamburg, Raben Group is expanding its portfolio in the sea freight and thus strengthens the know-how in intermodal transport. The sea and air freight activities will be bundled in a separate company, Raben Sea & Air GmbH. With this move Raben Group clearly puts a new focus on the development of these activities independently from the existing European network.

Customers enjoy the advantage of a unified transport management system

Fenthols customers now have access to the customer platform "MyRaben" and benefit from a uniform transport management system.

"This is a significant improvement because it increases process transparency. The entire logistics process becomes more homogeneous," explains Hirschberg.

Via the shipment tracking tool ETA (Estimated Time of arrival), customers receive complete information on statuses of their shipments. Raben also has a new Picture Confirming Delivery (PCD) solution - a service that enables contactless confirmation of delivery with almost no involvement of the recipient.

Fenthols branches received support from Raben Group teams

The implementation of the IT infrastructure and all other processes required close cooperation between all departments in the past few months since the signing of the purchase agreement. The four Fenthols branches in Germany were supported by Raben Group teams from different European locations. The Corona crisis also made the merger process more difficult for the two family-run companies.

"However, thanks to the support and a precise timetable, all necessary processes will be completed by June 1," says Hirschberg. Partners will then form a strong team. 

Raben invests dynamically in the German market.

In recent years Raben has invested dynamically in the German market and consistently implemented its long-term strategy of building its own independent general cargo network.