Bpost acquires e-fulfilment company Active Ants. Together with the Belgian parcel carrier, Active Ants wants to grow qualitatively in cross border e-commerce logistics. Unknown is the amount involved in the acquisition.
At a presentation of bpost's quarterly figures, it was announced that the Belgian market leader holds the majority of shares.
'Impetuous growth'
Active Ants speaks of a 'strategic partnership'. The fulfilment company says it has been growing impetuously in recent years. To cope with that growth, the capacity of order picking and storage system AutoStore was doubled earlier this year. The automated site in Nieuwegein now has 64,000 totes and 32 robots. Active Ants was looking for a strategic investor to continue this growth and remain innovative. It finally found it in bpost.
Strategic investor
"The knowledge, network and financial strength of bpost enables Active Ants to grow substantially in cross-border e-fulfilment while maintaining good quality. We are very pleased to now have such a strong, strategic investor on board," said Jeroen Dekker, managing partner at Active Ants in a statement.
Active Ants management to stay on
Current management and shareholders Jeroen Dekker and Jean Lahaye will stay on. Active Ants currently employs 179 people.
