Pitch Best small Cap Deal 2022: Lineage Logistics – H&S Coldstores

Name of the deal: Lineage Logistics acquires H&S Coldstores 
Date announced: 11 January 2022 
Date closed: 03 January 2022 
Published value: +/- 50 million euros 
Buyer(s): Lineage Logistics 
Target: H&S Coldstores 
Seller: H&S Group 

Involved firms and advisors 

Involved firms and advisors buy side:  
Rabobank and Crossminds (M&A Advisory), Deloitte (Tax Advisory), NautaDutilh (Tax Advisory and Legal advisory Corporate M&A) 

Involved firms and advisors target:  
ABN AMRO (M&A Advisory), EY (Tax Advisory), Deloitte (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A) 

Involved firms and advisors sell side:  
ABN AMRO (M&A Advisory), EY (Tax Advisory), Deloitte (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A) 

Pitch  

Brief description deal / Deal outline  
On 11 January 2022, H&S Coldstores, a temperature-controlled storage and logistics solutions provider, was acquired by Lineage Logistics, one of the globally leading temperature-controlled logistics solutions providers owned by investment firm Baygrove. Prior to the transaction, H&S Coldstores was a 100% subsidiary of H&S Group, a Dutch family-owned company and Europe’s largest intermodal service provider. The acquisition will further diversify Lineage Logistics’ business offering across the cold supply chain and will add a capacity of 48,000 tonnes to Lineage’s leading footprint in Europe. 

Why should this deal win the Award for Best Deal Small-Cap 2022?  
Despite the complex carve-out elements and cross-border dynamics involved, the deal has been executed in a swift and smooth fashion. This resulted in minimum business disruption for both seller as target and enabled instant integration for the buyer. In addition, the transaction truly demonstrated a “winners on all sides”-scenario. Negotiations have been pragmatic and efficient, and displayed a strong cooperation between the seller, buyer, and their advisors. 

Deal rationale:  
H&S Coldstores’ well-located temperature-controlled storage and juice production facility services will greatly complement Lineage Logistics’ existing capabilities following its earlier acquisition of Kloosterboer, and will further diversify its business offering across the cold supply chain. 

What is the impact of this deal for the company?  
H&S Coldstores will be integrated into Lineage Logistics in the Netherlands and will be able to utilise Lineage Logistics’ global network of over 400 strategically located facilities totalling more than two billion cubic feet of capacity in nineteen countries. The deal has no direct impact on the employees, as they all have been transferred to Lineage Logistics. 
 
What is the impact of this deal for the direct stakeholders?  
The carve-out enables H&S Group to further focus on its core product offering as intermodal service provider. Clients of H&S Coldstores will benefit from Lineage Logistics’ global footprint in the cold storage supply chain and its adjacent service offering. 

What is the impact of this deal on society?  
Lineage will continue building its leading cold storage footprint in Europe to optimise the value chain for chilled and frozen products, ultimately benefitting consumers. In addition, H&S Coldstores has been in the process of constructing a new state-of-the-art temperature-controlled warehouse which will contribute significantly to the reduction of the CO2 footprint for years to come. 

What was most complex about this deal?  
Within a very limited timeframe unwind all strings between H&S Group and H&S Coldstores in such a way that after closing the H&S Coldstores business could still operate without any business disruption. At the end, with the committed efforts of all parties involved, this was properly realised.