Antrim company McBurney Transport Group has been acquired by Danish transport and logistics provider DFDS for 1.2 billion Danish krone (€160 million).
DFDS said McBurney, which is family-owned, was acquired debt-free, and that the deal would expand its network in Britain and Ireland and connect services to Europe and Turkey, where it operates.
The core activity of McBurney is the transport of full- and part-load trailers between Ireland and Britain by road and ferry. Most of its trailers are temperature-controlled units. McBurney annually transports more than 100,000 trailers across the Irish Sea.
McBurney is headquartered in Ballymena and operates from eight different locations: three in the North, one in Dublin, three in England and one in Scotland.
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In Liverpool, McBurney operates a 25,000-pallet cold store, which facilitates the transport of cold chain goods throughout the UK.
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Operating under the name Bondelivery, McBurney also owns a 10,000sq m ambient warehouse in the North that focuses on fulfilment for the retail sector and last-mile delivery in Ireland.
The company has more than 800 employees and operates about 400 trucks and 1,360 trailers, of which 955 are refrigerated. Most of the equipment is owned by the company.
DFDS chief executive Torben Carlsen said: “The acquisition of McBurney Transport Group greatly enhances the scope of our customer offerings on the island of Ireland and in the UK, particularly towards the resilient food sector. It also brings considerable scale to our existing operations in the region.”
Norman McBurney, founder of McBurney Transport Group, said the deal would help the company to “gain access to new development opportunities”.
“I am certain the wider market coverage, including access to DFDS’s extensive transport network, will benefit our many long-standing customers,” he added. “I am confident that our many loyal and dedicated employees will be comfortable and happy after this transaction.”
