Staci Group announces its acquisition of Amware Fulfillment

Earlier this week, Staci, a Saint Ouen L’Aumone, France-based multichannel fulfillment provided said it has acquired Lawrenceville, Ga.-based direct-to-consumer, order fulfillment services provider Amware Fulfillment LLC.

Financial terms of the transaction were not made publicly available.

Established in 1989, Amware has 15 U.S.-based facilities and focuses on helping fast-growing companies scale fulfillment operations through every stage of business growth, according to Staci officials. Through its various U.S.-based facilities, the company is able to deliver to 98% of the U.S. within one-to-two business days.

Staci said that by bringing Amware into the fold, it is able to provide growing brands what it described as a “powerful multichannel fulfillment solution across North America and Europe.”

What’s more, it added that the company will now have 81 fulfillment centers comprised of a cumulative 9.8 million square-feet, with 18 U.S.-based facilities, and another 63 throughout France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain.

“The acquisition of Amware gives us a powerful eCommerce fulfillment capability in the important U.S. market and expands our global fulfillment platform,” said Staci Group CEO, Thomas Mortier, in a statement. “Amware's network of multi-client fulfillment centers aligns perfectly with Staci's model of offering growing brands a flexible, pay-as-you-go logistics solution that scales quickly and economically to match revenue growth.”

And Amware CEO Harry Drajpuch said in the same statement that: “In the current market for fulfillment services, it's rare to find a provider that combines significant size and scale with a more personalized, collaborative approach to solution design. That's the unique value the Staci-Amware union brings—robust, high-volume fulfillment and parcel shipping solutions that are also highly customized.”

Going forward, Amware will maintain its identity in the U.S. as Amware Fulfillment, with the three Staci-operated U.S.-based facilities—in Jersey, City, NJ, Memphis, TN, and Reno, NV—to be part of a combined USA fulfillment network. Amware CEO Drajpuch will continue in his position and report in to Nicolas Morisse, CEO of Eurodislog and Chairman of Staci US Corp.

A Staci spokesman told LM that a major driver for this acquisition was that the company wanted to expand in the U.S. market and recognized that this would be difficult to do quickly in an organic way. 

In terms of what the main benefits this acquisition will bring, for both Staci’s and Amware’s customers, the spokesman mentioned the aforementioned expanded coverage into the U.S, with the three Staci locations in Jersey, City, NJ, Memphis, TN, and Reno, NV to be integrated into the combined Staci/Amware location network, coupled with its 81 worldwide fulfillment centers, which he said will help ore brands looking to achieve global fulfillment with single or fewer 3PL partners, as well as greater freight buying leverage internationally.

When asked what acquiring Amware provides for Staci that was needed in missing, the Staci spokesman said that Staci had a limited U.S.-based footprint, whereas now it has a truly national footprint in the U.S., with Amware’s 15 facilities—both for new customers and existing Staci customers in Europe who wish to expand to the U.S. market with a single provider. 

As for next steps, he said that the companies’ respective teams (operations, HR, marketing, Finance, and others) are meeting in the near term to discuss integration process.   

“But few changes are anticipated,” he said. “Amware retains brand name, leadership team and its associates stay. Staci is small in US and does not really have a redundant management infrastructure.” 

Staci said that this acquisition provides the company with “a powerful eCommerce fulfillment capability in the important U.S. market.” And it added that company’s primary investment partner is Ardian, which acquired a majority stake in the company in 2019. Amware's primary investment partner was Rotunda Capital Partners, which acquired a majority stake in the company in 2014.