Ahold Delhaize announces today that bol.com, its online retailer in the Benelux, and delivery expert Cycloon completed the transaction for a strategic partnership in which bol.com has become a majority shareholder of Cycloon. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets has approved this transaction. Bol.com and Cycloon can now work towards the first joint delivery of a bol.com package, which is expected to happen in the second half of this year. The parties wish to jointly accelerate Cycloon’s growth and share the ambition to make delivery more sustainable and social. The current management team of Cycloon will be continued, and the existing shareholders of Cycloon will remain involved as such.
The partnership with bol.com enables Cycloon to substantially accelerate its mission of green and social delivery, creating a future-proof position with strong growth opportunities in a competitive market. For bol.com and its sales partners, the majority stake will ensure a larger proportion of packages can be delivered by bicycle, and it enables the online retail platform to offer customers an even better delivery service.
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Green and social
Management and shareholders remain fully committed to Cycloon’s social culture and sustainable mission to grow the organization and create new jobs. With its nationwide network of bicycle couriers and mail deliverers, Cycloon delivers mail and packages to thousands of customers throughout the Netherlands. As a result, the company is already saving 1,600 tons of CO2 annually. 600 people with a (former) distance to the labor market are employed at the company. Cycloon will continue to deliver mail and packages for current and new customers, next to delivering packages for bol.com. This concerns both packages from bol.com itself as well as packages from sales partners who store their products at the distribution centers of bol.com.
As part of the terms of the transaction, bol.com will acquire the remaining shares in four years’ time, subject to approval of the relevant competition authority. The parties intend to continue operating Cycloon as an independent brand.
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