Ferliner, a freight forwarder in Hedel, specialised in the transport of non-ferrous products, comes into the hands of a group of investors from the transportation industry, led by entrepreneur Stefan Pompe. This was announced by acquisition specialist Marktlink Mergers & Acquisitions today. Pompe will be in charge of the day-to-day running of the business.

Ferliner is the intermediary of over 10,000 transporters. Ferliner also has a fleet of trailers at its disposal, used whenever there is insufficient or limited capacity in the market. The freight forwarder has an extensive international customer base and provides transport for its customers worldwide. Ferliner uses different modes of transportation: by road, water, railway and air. A major part of the company’s revenue comes from business abroad. Among its customers are large international steel companies and manufacturers of raw materials.

Historically, Ferliner was known as a transporter of steel products but throughout the years, the company has focused on the transportation of non-ferrous metals. Mainly because of this focus, the specialist’s road transport activities have grown.

Ferliner’s founder and former owner Frits Geerligs has gradually stepped back from daily operations in recent years, but remains involved with the company as an advisor. Geerligs says: “Together with the Ferliner team, we have experienced rapid growth and we have expanded our wonderful business with our team of international specialists. With the arrival of Stefan Pompe, who brought with him his entrepreneurial experience in international (sea) transport, we are in an even better position to serve our international customers.”

Growth potential

Stefan Pompe explains: “With its unique network of transporters and its own fleet of trailers, Ferliner is a pearl within the non-ferrous transport market. We see great growth opportunities by offering additional services such as storage, expanding sea freight and refrigerated transport. This way, Ferliner becomes a service-oriented one-stop shop for its customers, at home as well as abroad. Ferliner has a strong foundation and I am looking forward to further utilising the existing growth potential, together with the Ferliner employees.”

Financial details about the transaction have not yet been made public. Huub Verbeeten, manager at Marktlink Mergers & Acquisitions, assisted Frits Geerligs in his search for a new owner. Verbeeten says: “Frits is an entrepreneur who has his affairs in order and found an interesting niche in the transportation industry. In the past few years, Ferliner has grown by 20% yearly. The fact that Frits has again realised this growth in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in a smooth acquisition process.” Buyer Stefan Pompe was assisted in the process by mergers and acquisitions advisor Ronald Thomas.