Hermes in Great Britain, France and Germany will be partly sold this year, Alexander Birken, CEO of the Otto Group, announced it last week. There are industry rumours about FedEx starting a partnership with the mother company Otto Group.
We are looking for a strategic partner in order to make even better use of these very strong opportunities in the market, which at the same time is very investment heavy. We are talking to a number of interested parties and aim to get to a clear agreement in the fiscal year 2020-2021. The aim of the alliance is to expand the position as number two that Hermes holds in UK, Germany and France. In order to do so, we are willing to handover the majority in the respective Hermes companies” – Chief Financial Officer Petra Scharner-Wolff commented on the news.
The Otto Group, the owner of Hermes, presented its results about the 2019 financial year last week and this was the occasion when the plan was announced. CEO Alexander Birken emphasized that there was no intention to withdraw from the distribution.
Although the company has not named any possible investors, the German business newspaper Handelsblatt quoted “industry circles” who cited FedEx as the leading candidate.
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