Together with the new VIP member Ernst & Young the French Chamber of Commerce in Sweden arranged, September the 22nd, an after-work seminar on the theme French acquisitions in Sweden.

Fabrice Andriveau, financial controller at the member company Veolia Transport Sweden, presented the company and talked about the process of acquisitions made by Veolia Transport in Sweden. What are the challenges and what is most important to think about in the acquisition process? More than 70 people participated in the after-work seminar.

Veolia Transport Sverige is a leading private operator of public transport operating city and regional traffic routes, longdistance, school transport services, contracted goods and freight traffic throughout Sweden. Veolia Transport Sweden has 5 000 employees and a turnover of SEK 3.4 bn.
We learned a lot of new things about Veolia Transport, for instance that Veolia runs a daily train Malmö-Stockholm,  that Veolia owns the Airport shuttles ”Flygbussarna” and that Veolia has a fleet of 14 ferries running person & freight traffic in Gothenburg's Archipelago. 

The first acquisition in Sweden took place in 1998 with the acquisition of Linjebuss by CGEA Transport (future Veolia Transport). In 2004 Veolia Transport (at that time Connnex) acquired the ferry company Styrsöbolaget. In 2006 Connex became Veolia Transport and the Swedish company acquired Granbergs Buss. In 2007 followed the acquisition of 3 Swedish companies: Värmlandsbuss, Taxi Stor & Liten and People Travel Group (incl. Flygbussarna, Bussakuten…)

Fabrice Andriveau described the acquisition process’ challenges and the important things to prepare well before the acquisition but also the challenges appearing after and how to facilitate the integration process.

The concluding advices from Fabrice were the following:
- Think through the legal and management structure before: it is time consuming but well worth the investment.
- Stepwise and/or differentiated integration depending on size and cultural background of acquired entities: each company is unique and each acquisition process as well. Respect the brands you buy.
- IT integration is key: time consuming but very important
- Always focus on current operations!

After the interesting presentation the host, Ernst & Young, invited the participants to a tasteful buffet and networking. Here below some photos from the event.

Fabrice Andriveau in action

Jörgen Ingemarsson from Crown with Ulf Virgin och Jennifer Rock-Baley
from Ernst & Young

Eric de Rouville and Jean-Louis Manera from Crédit Agricole CIB together with Anders Åberg from MAQS lawfirm (in the middle)

Peter Strandh from Ernst & Young and Mats Hellström from Hellström lawfirm

Johanna Kull, Ernst & Young, together with Nicolas Murcia from Opera Capital Partners

Jessika Kamblad and Catherine Richard-Bourget from Visma Services 

text and photo Kristina Hulteberg, CCFS