C.H. Robinson to Acquire Poland’s Apreo Logistics

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Logistics company C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. announced it has agreed to acquire Polish freight forwarder Apreo Logistics S.A. No terms were disclosed.

C.H. Robinson, Eden Prairie, Minn., said earlier this month that Apreo, founded in 2007, provides dry van, refrigerated, dry and liquid bulk truckload services. It also offers warehouse, air and ocean services.

“This acquisition expands C.H. Robinson’s presence in Europe and supports our goals to strengthen our capabilities in our core business and further diversify our modal offering, both of which benefit our European and global customer base,” C.H. Robinson Europe President Bryan Foe said in a statement.

It’s the latest move to expand C.H. Robinson Europe. In July, the C.H. Robinson division opened an office to handle reefer freight in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Apreo generates more than $100 million annually in revenue from more than 2,000 customers, C.H. Robinson said. Apreo also has more than 300 employees in 21 offices in Poland and one in Germany.

“We are taking a long-term approach toward Europe and feel [that] now is a good opportunity to increase our commitment to the region,” said C.H. Robinson CEO John Wiehoff said in a statement. “The agreement to acquire Apreo supports our strategy of making continued investments in our business within the continent.” Apreo CEO Arkadiusz Glinka will remain “in a similar role,” said C.H. Robinson.

In a research note, analyst John Larkin of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. said that, “faced with increased competition in an increasingly saturated domestic brokerage market, a reduction in available capacity from smaller carriers and slower organic growth stemming from the law of big numbers, it appears that C.H. Robinson management has decided to further diversify geographically and grow its international business more rapidly.”

C.H. Robinson ranks No. 6 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies in the United States, Canada and Mexico, based on revenue.