Belgian Post Group Snaps Up Radial For $820 Million

The Belgian Post Group — also known as bpost — is working to establish a more robust delivery presence in North America. To that end, it has announced news of its choice to purchase Radial, formerly eBay Enterprise, for $820 million.

The move is making waves, because Radial is considered second only to Amazon when it comes to delivery fulfillment in the U.S. As of today, about 20 percent of all eCommerce orders that flow between the U.S. and the EU are handled by Radial.

“I’m very proud of this acquisition that represents a great leap forward for bpost, promoting us as a leading player in the eCommerce logistics business in the Benelux, Europe and throughout the world,” said Koen Van Gerven, CEO of Belgian Post Group, in a statement.

“I’m convinced that offering integrated and seamless eCommerce logistics solutions to our U.S. and European customers will help them grow their businesses. The expertise and capabilities of Radial employees are a unique complement to bpost and will help us in becoming a leader in eCommerce logistics. I’m very happy to welcome all Radial employees to our bpost family,” he continued.

The buy price, by all accounts, is a bargain. The firm was valued at around $942 million when it was first divested by eBay and sold to a Permira-led consortium in 2015. And, when the business that went on to become eBay Enterprise was bought up in 2011, eBay paid $2.4 billion.

Bpost, which does about $2.9 billion in revenue annually, has recently been buying up freight and last-mile delivery fulfillment both in North America and Europe to expand its economies of scale. The firm has also paired up with DHL and started its own small startup-style ventures (such as Bringr, an app for finding delivery services) to build out its efforts. Radial will bolt on a lot of U.S.-based scale to that business.

Radial’s revenues for 2017 are predicted to be between $970 and $1,020 million, with normalized EBITDA between $65 and $70 million.

“Radial represents the gold standard for profitable eCommerce and omnichannel technology, arming merchants with the capabilities needed to operate at a global scale,” said Matthew Espe, CEO of Radial, in a statement.

“There has never been a more important time when it comes to helping brands grow their online business profitably, especially when reaching their customer base internationally. Joining the bpost family is a critical next step for both companies as we strive to help meet customer expectations on the backbone of industry-leading technology and services,” he added.

The timing of this deal is interesting, as last week saw Amazon looking to add a “flex” last-mile delivery service in competition with FedEx (and now bpost).