News

French transport giant Norbert Dentressangle has admitted that it wants to buy UK haulier Eddie Stobart.

The firm is actively targeting the UK for rapid growth and sees the Cumbrian business as an ideal  target, particularly as it appears to have been put up for sale, or at least open for investment by parent company WA Developments.

Norbert Dentressangle chief executive Jean-Claude Michel admitted the firm’s interest in an exclusive interview with Motor Transport – he says, “We are thinking that it could be a good opportunity for us, but there are a lot of candidates and many financial institutions also looking. So we are not very optimistic about our capacity to do that”.

He says that the firm expects to be substantially larger in the UK by the end of 2007, either in its logistics or transport business, but has no other firm acquisition targets at present.

• For more, see Motor Transport next week.