Repeated sale announcements, tight negotiations and an unexpected outcome: only three months after Curiero confirmed it would sell 25% to Asesoft, the company's chairman, Bogdan Carcu, changed his mind.
A deal will be sealed, eventually, but with RTC, the group owned by businessman Octavian Radu, reads BUSINESS Magazin.
TCE, the logistics arm of RTC group, would therefore swallow Curiero.
Though the new firm, to be called RTC Logistica, still ranks third among couriers, after Fan Courier and Cargus, "in terms of turnover we are quite close to the top two players," stated Octavian Radu, adding that "with a 26m-euro turnover, we enter the league of long-term survivors".
After the merger, the company will be controlled by two main shareholders: RTC will own 70%, with the rest of 30% to be divided between the partners of Marchessa SA, now holding 99.9% in Curiero, and George Cosmin Coman, with the rest of 0.1%.
The merger, to be finalised in two months at the latest, after the Competition Council gives the green light, involves costs only for RTC.
"This is a deal carried out in the form of a 3m-euro capital increase. Nobody takes any money home," specifies Radu, adding the reason behind this step was linked to the financial difficulties Curiero has had lately, posting debts equalling the capital increase in terms of value.
RTC owner says his decision to take over Curiero was based on a logical reason: "On the delivery services market one grows or dies. There's no middle way. And we were not competitive on the market."
In RTC owner's opinion, to be competitive, a courier has to be able to pay rents and routes at a cost level of at least 1m euros per year. Radu had previously intended to sell TCE Logistica, with 11m-euro turnover last year, two times less than rivals such as Fan Courier or Cargus. However, after talks with se