DVZ, 13. November 2007

A Step Up Into a New League
Geodis Wilson has big plans with Rohde & Liesenfeld

 

At the beginning of the next year Rohde & Liesenfeld (R&L) will be integrated into Geodis Wilson – if the competition on commission approves of the acquisition. In the interview with Sebastian Reimann, editor of the DVZ (German logistics newspaper), Geodis Wilson-CEO Jeff Hoogesteger, R&L-CEO Bodo Liesenfeld and R&L-COO Matthias Hansen explain their further course of action concerning the integration and the shared future of the two companies.

For Bodo Liesenfeld, CEO and Chairman of Rohde & Liesenfeld, the merger between his company and Geodis Wilson is to be considered a ’step up into a new league‘ and the fact that the transaction took place at this specific point of time is a ’stroke of luck’ as it fosters the company’s continuous development. The reason for his thinking this way resides in the fact that ‘for R&L on its own it would have been very difficult to grow in a way it has become possible now’, Mr. Liesenfeld states, ’because an own global network and asset strong logistics products are prerequisites a middle size company can build up in a very limited way only’.

 

At the same time Jeff Hoogesteger, CEO of Geodis Wilson, the forwarding section of the French Geodis group, considers R&L as ideal complement – on regional scale as well as within separate business sections such as project logistics e. g. For him the purchase is the continuation of ‘The Global Alliance’ formed by the two companies in 2002, which, however, was discontinued after Geodis had ‘swallowed’ the forwarding section of TNT (TNT Freight Management) in November last year.

 

Integration - No major concerns

 

Thanks to the positive co-operation in the past, managers stay calm when it comes to R&L’s integration into the Geodis group - although TNT Freight Management has not been integrated entirely yet either. This, however, should be accomplished at the beginning of 2008 permitting to integrate R&L into the organization within the subsequent six to nine months. He does not ‘foresee any major problems’ Mr. Hoogesteger emphasizes as there are barely any overlappings and management has known each other for such a long time.

Mr. Hoogesteger believes in the know-how of the R&L management anyway. The proof is that Matthias Hansen, presently R&L‘s COO, will be appointed Regional Vice President Central Europe, Middle East and South Africa within the new organization’s second management level. Moreover he will support the integration together with several Geodis and R&L managers. Bodo Liesenfeld considers this as ‘a real mark of confidence‘. He himself, however, will retire from operations and act as strategic consultant e. g.

 

Into the Top 10

With the acquisitions Geodis intends to settle firmly among global forwarding’s Top 10, foreseeing further acquisitions in the forwarding sector as well as in niche markets. Nevertheless, there is one single little drop of bitterness for R&L in this perspective. Sooner or later, Rohde & Liesenfeld, name of tradition, will disappear. ‘We will maintain the R&L brand for some time‘, Mr. Hoogesteger emphasizes, as it is very well-known in Germany itself but also in other regions. ’But we have the intention to operate entirely under the Geodis Wilson banner by the end of 2008‘.