Kuehne + Nagel buying German companies

Kuehne + Nagel buying German companies Switzerland’s Kuehne + Nagel said today it has agreed to buy two German logistics firms, G.L. Kayser Spediteur seit 1787 GmbH & Co. KG, and the Cordes & Simon Group, for undisclosed sums.
   Mainz-based G.L. Kayser has an annual turnover of 120 million euros ($177 million) and about 700 employees. Its focus is on international and national overland activities and contract logistics with 120,000 square meters of warehouse space at four locations in the Rhine-Main region.
   Founded in 1934, Cordes & Simon is headquartered in Hagen in the North-Rhine Westphalia region. It offers national and international groupage services with 550 staff and reported a turnover of 100 million euros ($148 million) in 2006. In addition to the Hagen head office and a branch in Wilnsdorf, the company operates in the Berlin-Brandenburg region, as well as in Freiberg near Stuttgart and Villingen-Schwenningen. The steel forwarding business remains in the ownership of the vendors.
   'The acquisitions significantly strengthen our network and market position in Germany, and provide us with an ideal platform to dynamically expand our overland activities in Europe,' said Klaus Herms, Kuehne + Nagel’s chief executive officer.
   Both agreements are subject to the approval of the antitrust authorities.