Mid Europa Partners to sell Romanian courier operator Cargus

The investment fund Mid Europa Partners, one of the most active investors in the local market, reached an agreement to sell Urgent Cargus, the second largest courier company in Romania, to Sameday – the courier company in the same group with the online retailer eMAG, according to Profit.ro. The deal is pending approval by the competition body.

"Sameday has fully taken over Cargus. Now, the approval of the Competition Council will also be needed. Sameday has a turnover twice as large as that of Cargus – which [besides being smaller] has also been losing money for the past several years. We are talking about consolidation and more capacity to deliver online orders, whose volume is growing each year," sources familiar with the deal told Profit.ro.

Sameday is one of the most important couriers in the same-day delivery segment, being controlled by Dante International, which operates the online store eMAG.

Dante International holds a 94.5156% stake in Sameday, the difference going to Lucian Baltaru, the company's general manager. The company's management announced that Sameday aims to become the courier of the Balkans.

Delivery Solutions (operating under the brand Sameday Courier) reported a net profit of RON 21.4 million (EUR 4 million) last year, from a loss of RON 14.7 million in 2023. The company's business remained on a positive trend and reached RON 1.19 billion (EUR 240 million), 33.7% more than in 2023.

Mid Europa acquired Cargus in 2019 from Abris Capital Partners. The transaction at that time was estimated by Profit.ro at around EUR 150 million.

(Photo source: the company)