Hyundai Glovis President Kim Kyung-bae holds an agreement with Adampol°Øs founder and Vice Chairman Adam Byglewski after signing the Korean company°Øs deal to acquire the Polish company at Bialysatok, Poland, on Nov. 19. (Photo: Hyundai Glovis)
Hyundai Glovis said on Nov. 19 that it has signed an agreement to take over Adampol SA, which is a Polish company specializing in shipping cars across Europe. Hyundai Glovis estimates the value of the corporation at about 70 million euros ($87.6 million), the largest-ever acquisition case made by a Korean logistics firm.
On Nov. 18, Hyundai Glovis President Kim Kyung-bae attended the signing ceremony at Bialystok in the northeast of Poland, along with the local company's founder and vice chairman Adam Byglewski, as well as major shareholders.
The company was established in 1990 in Poland, in the middle of the European continent. With the head office in Bialystok, it has branch offices in places like Britain, Belgium, Russia, and Italy. In terms of sales revenue, Adampol is ranked No. 10 in Europe in transporting finished cars. It has recorded average annual growth of 15 percent for three years since 2011. Last year, it transported about 400,000 cars for BMW, GM, Toyota, and Volkswagen, with more than 100 million euros of sales and a 10-percent operating profit ratio.
With the acquisition of Adampol, Hyundai Glovis will actively pursue business opportunities in Europe. Currently the company has 10 logistical points across Europe and Russia, including Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Russia.
Next year, Hyundai Glovis said Adampol is projected to expand the transportation of cars 15 to 20 percent over this year’s total, while doubling its value as the company plans to set up new logistics centers across Europe in such countries as Britain, Belgium, Czech Republic, among others.
President Kim said the company has just secured a base for our operation in Europe by acquiring Adampol, which already has a vast logistics network in Europe, which will be joined by those of Hyundai Glovis to speed up the growth of the two joint operation.In the meantime, Hyundai Glovis signed a contract with S-Oil to transport 10 million tons of crude oil from the Middle East to Korea for $120 million in the next five years.
The logistics company, a Hyundai Motor Group affiliate, also operates a fleet of bulk carriers, along with cargo ships for cars, totaling around 80 vessels, allowing the company to compete in the international logistics market in a positive way, the company said.
The company plans to expand its overseas operation in order to get away from excessive reliance on domestic business. Around 90 percent of its work came from transporting cars for its affiliate auto makers, Hyundai and Kia, and the company began to expand its overseas operation so much so that the Fair Trade Commission announced that the company was just behind Doosan Heavy, the leader in reducing domestic operation reliance while expanding its overseas operation.
Also behind the company’s overseas drive is the fact that domestic operation is limited for further. When the company began its operation, its turnover amounted to 300 billion won in 2001, but it has since expanded 40 times with its share price skyrocketing 15 times since the initial public offering at 21,300 won per share in 2005. It sits at 300,000 won per share now.
With the domestic market fully saturated, the name of the company has been popping up often in the M&A market. The company also kicked off a project to open the North Pole shipping route to expand its international operations faster.
