Nippon Express deal closes

Nippon Express is buying Metro Supply Chain for as much as C$2.2 billion, adding a Canadian logistics operator with warehouses, fulfillment and delivery networks across North America and the United Kingdom. (tdnet-pdf.kabutan.jp) Nippon Express Holdings said April 17 that its board approved the acquisition of Metro Supply Chain Group through a wholly owned Canadian special-purpose company. Metro Supply Chain said the deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the coming months. (tdnet-pdf.kabutan.jp) (prnewswire.com) Metro Supply Chain said the purchase price is up to 2.2 billion Canadian dollars. Bloomberg reported that is about $1.6 billion in U.S. dollars. (prnewswire.com) (bloomberg.com) The target is not a small bolt-on. Metro says it manages more than 21 million square feet across more than 180 sites in North America and the United Kingdom, with a team of 9,000. (metroscg.com) That footprint gives Nippon Express more of the warehouse-and-delivery work that sits closest to online shoppers and retail shelves. Nippon Express said Metro’s business is concentrated in contract logistics across retail, consumer goods, automotive, healthcare, technology and public-sector customers in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. (tdnet-pdf.kabutan.jp) Nippon Express framed the deal as part of its “Business Plan 2028 Dynamic Growth 2.0,” launched in January 2024, with a goal of building a stronger global position by its 100th anniversary in 2037. The company said Metro adds customers with limited overlap with Nippon Express’s existing base, which is centered more heavily on Japanese companies. (tdnet-pdf.kabutan.jp) Metro said Nippon Express committed to keep Metro’s management team and headquarters in Montréal, leave day-to-day decisions local, and not materially downsize the Québec head-office workforce or move a material share of management jobs out of Québec. (prnewswire.com) Metro began in 1974 as a single 100,000-square-foot warehouse in Montréal. More than 50 years later, the sale hands that network to a Japanese logistics group founded in 1937 and operating in more than 50 countries. (metroscg.com) (prnewswire.com) Until regulators sign off, Metro said it will keep operating as usual. If the deal closes on the timeline both companies laid out on April 17, Nippon Express will get a much larger base in the North American warehouse and fulfillment business without moving Metro out of Montréal. (prnewswire.com)