Definitive Acquisition of nox NachtExpress by Groupe STERNE

Two months after the signing of the purchase agreement, the relevant antitrust authorities have approved the acquisition of nox NachtExpress by the Groupe STERNE, founded in 1972. This successfully completes the transaction. The aim of the acquisition is to establish new standards for time-critical deliveries in Central Europe with an efficient and reliable high-speed network.

(Langenfeld) To this end, the newly formed group is expanding the offering of night express services in the French market as well as the time-critical business in Central Europe, and is tapping into new vertical markets in Germany, Benelux, and Austria. The focus is on the sectors of services, aftermarket, manufacturing industry, retail/e-commerce, and healthcare.

At the same time, customers in Central Europe will in the future be offered high-value services from the group. This includes, for example, reverse logistics with environmentally friendly reusable boxes, digitization of documents for the banking sector, and the collection of waste for recycling or destruction.

Customers of nox NachtExpress will thus benefit from an expanded range of time-critical services in Europe that meaningfully complements the existing NachtExpress services.

Accelerating Development in the European Market

“In some situations, even the delivery of urgently needed spare parts before the start of the next working day is not fast enough. In such ‘machine-down’ moments, our customers benefit from the 24/7 urgency solution on the road and in the air that we will be able to offer in the future,” says Donald Pilz, CEO of nox NachtExpress. “The acquisition of nox NachtExpress opens an exciting new chapter in the history and development of our company. It is fully in line with the group’s strategy to accelerate its development in the European market and strengthen its leadership position in the spare parts market. With the acquisition, we offer our customers a range of high-quality logistics services that is unique in the market,” says Laurent de Rosnay, CEO of the STERNE group.

New Group with 2,100 Employees in 80 Depots

The newly formed group comprises over 80 depots in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, offering a diverse range of services to more than 6,000 shippers. It employs over 2,100 staff worldwide. Daily, over 170,000 recipient customers are served with 3,000 delivery trips in the newly established network.

Photo: © Groupe STERNE