Transactions

Following the acquisition of Deliver.ee, a pioneer in shop delivery, in September 2021, the TopChrono group has just integrated into its family a long-standing player in the Paris region in the B2B delivery sector: Les Nouveaux Coursiers (LNC), with the support of Siparex and Bpifrance.
The TopChrono group has been in existence for more than 35 years and is a leading player in the B2B delivery market. It has developed around four main activities: BtoB urgent deliveries, home deliveries for retailers and e-merchants, express transport of organic products under controlled temperatures and national and international courier services.

Thanks to a dynamic external growth strategy, the group’s turnover will increase by an average of 21% each year, from €54m in 2020 to €66m by the end of 2021. Based in Saint-Ouen, it currently has 750 employees.

In this context of growth, the group has just acquired LNC. Founded in 1981 by its current director, Eric Darras, LNC is a family business based in the Ile-de-France region that specialises in express delivery and logistics from its 950m2 warehouse in Ivry-sur-Seine.
This acquisition brings the group’s turnover to over €68m and consolidates its position as leader in the BtoB courier business in the Ile-de-France region. The acquisition also gives the group a new logistics hub south of Paris, thus completing its network and strengthening its last-mile logistics services in the Paris region.

The Darras family, the selling owners of LNC, are happy to pass on the company they have been developing for the past 40 years to one of their colleagues with whom they share values and ties of esteem.

Bruno Neveu, President of the TopChrono group, said: “We are very happy to welcome LNC in the pool of brands of the TopChrono group. Our stories are very similar and the soul of the courier irrigates our businesses! Thanks to our historical know-how and our common values, we are in a position to tackle with fervor and professionalism the new developments of the racing market and to constantly improve our value proposition for our customers and future customers.”

Eric Darras, its former president and founder, has counted on the support of his advisor Deomenos to help him in the choice of the buyer and the negotiations until the end: “We would like to express our gratitude for the quality, the rigour and the endurance of the DEOMENOS team, thanks to which our negotiations with the shareholders of the TopChrono group were able to be completed under good conditions”.