Case ESKP - Etelä-Suomen kuriiripalvelu Oy
Publicly traded company Boreo Oyj bought Etelä-Suomen Kuriiripalvelu Oy's entire share capital to strengthen its logistical expertise. Owner Mika Erkkilä will continue as CEO and is satisfied with the additional resources the company has gained for HR and funding.
Etelä-Suomen Kuriiripalvelu, a company specialised in express and scheduled deliveries, was founded in 2010 and its trump card is the ability to react quickly to a customer's changing needs. Mika Erkkilä followed that same principle of agility when he contacted Suomen Yritysmyynti. The thought of selling the company had already occurred to him, but never seriously enough to actively search for a buyer. Suomen Yritysmyynti was able to convince Erkkilä that their extensive network of contacts was bound to include parties interested in his company.
Etelä-Suomen Kuriiripalvelu turned out to be easily marketable. The company's profitability was very good and its staff was professional. In addition, specialising in express and scheduled deliveries helped it stand out among many others in the same field. Soon there were plenty of financially competitive offers on the table. One potential buyer was Boreo, who Suomen Yritysmyynti have collaborated with before. It was important to Erkkilä not to sell his company to a venture capitalist with difficult short-term goals, but rather find a buyer who would help the company grow in the long term.
Jarmo Pakarinen of Suomen Yritysmyynti brought the different parties to the same table and the negotiations were quick to get under way. Selling to the publicly traded company naturally meant precision, stacks of paper, and long days, but a good negotiating spirit helped everyone get through it. "I was terrified of a process that dragged on for years and it admittedly was a lot of work, but in hindsight, Suomen Yritysmyynti gave me a call at the start of the year and the company was sold by March," Erkkilä recalls.
"Right after the sale I had a moment where I wondered what I had just done. Now, after about six months, I'm sure I made a good decision. Maybe I was a little too cautious about growing the business," says Erkkilä. Etelä-Suomen Kuriiripalvelu will continue its operations as its own business with a proven good concept, but the company has received additional resources from Boreo, especially for funding and HR. It was also important to Erkkilä that the company's personnel reacted positively to the sale. For his part, the company sale brought some security to his retirement days, but it is not yet time for that. The company has changed hands, but the good things remain – Mika Erkkilä will continue as Etelä-Suomen Kuriiripalvelu's CEO.
Website of ESKP - Etelä-Suomen kuriiripalvelu Oy: www.eskp.fi