C.H. Robinson Offloads European Surface Transportation Business | TCB

Eden Prairie-based transportation giant C.H. Robinson Worldwide is selling a significant part of its European footprint.

On Tuesday, the company said that it reached a deal to sell its European surface transportation business to Germany-based freight forwarding startup Sennder Gmbh. In a news release, C.H. Robinson officials said the move is part of wider plan to “get fit, fast, and focused” on profitable growth in four other main areas: North American truckload and less-than-truckload, and global ocean and air.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but tech news site TechCrunch cited an unnamed source who said the transaction is similar in value to Sennder’s more than $970 million acquisition of Uber’s European freight business back in 2020.

C.H. Robinson isn’t leaving Europe altogether; the company remains “committed to our global forwarding and managed services presence there,” president and CEO Dave Bozeman said in the release.

The company has operated a European surface transportation subsidiary since 1994. The unit provides transportation and logistics services across the continent.

Sennder, meanwhile, has been deemed a “unicorn,” a company valued at over $1 billion. The company first launched in 2015.

Pending regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. The transaction marks the first divestiture since Bozeman became became president and CEO just about a year ago.

The news comes one day before C.H. Robinson’s second quarter earnings call. In the release, the company said it won’t have any further comments until the call.