Shift’s management team joined forces with tech investment bank Solano Partners to form bidco YDLGP Ltd, which acquired 100% of Yodel Delivery Network’s shares today (13 February 2024).
The deal was conducted solvently with no administration – and without transferring any debt to YDLGP, making Yodel debt free.
YDLGP has also agreed terms to acquire the entire issued share capital of Shift – and thereby also the large-item delivery firm Tuffnells, which Shift bought out of administration in June 2023.
Shift, founded in 2017 by Jacob Corlett as a gig economy removals and moving service, has form in acquiring larger, established firms in the UK and Europe – though the troubled delivery giant is by far Corlett’s largest prize to date at 3,200 full-time equivalent staff and a 2021 turnover of £560m.
A Yodel spokesperson said the company would focus on business as usual, with its priority being the protection of customers, staff and suppliers.
Mike Hancox, Yodel CEO, said: “We’re extremely excited to begin the next chapter of Yodel’s journey, leveraging the scale of our business with the support of new shareholders and the future benefits of the Shift technology platform.
“Our customers have always been our priority and the transaction announced today allows us to ensure continuity for them, as well as our employees and wider stakeholders.”
Jacob Corlett, Shift founder and CEO, said: “I am incredibly proud of what we have built at Shift in the last few years, rapidly scaling our tech-logistics platform, and M&A has been a big part of that success.
“At the heart of this merger is Shift's revolutionary AI-driven technology platform, promising a future where efficiency and automation become the backbone of logistics operations. I look forward to working with Mike and the Yodel team, and with the support of YDLGP, continuing our journey building and scaling logistics through technology.”
“We’ve seen the Shift team successfully acquire and relaunch the Tuffnells business and believe that forming the enlarged group to house all three creates a disruptive logistics powerhouse,” added Jon Edirmanasinghe, founding partner of Solano.
Shift bought failed large-item delivery firm Tuffnells out of administration in June 2023. Before administration, the firm had 2,000 staff, and while it is now unclear how many of these jobs survived the administration, Shift now operates the Tuffnells brand out of 21 of its old depots.
Rival delivery firm DX Group itself bought out 250 of Tuffnell’s staff and 15 of its delivery sites during the administration.
Yodel, part of Barclay family-owned Logistics Group Holdings, delivered around 190 million parcels in 2023, but has struggled to find profitability outside of the pandemic boom years.
The half-billion-pound firm reported an operating loss in 2018, 2019 and 2020 of £110m, £65m, and £24m respectively before the pandemic boom year of 2021, when it made a £33m operating profit.
