Rudlin Consulting

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We were somewhat sceptical when the Financial Times greeted Mitsubishi Corporation’s $1bn acquisition of Norwegian company Grieg Seafood’s salmon farms as being part of a record breaking acquisition spree by Japanese companies. It seemed that here in Europe at least, Japanese acquisitions had not really picked up momentum at all, compared to the pre Brexit and pre pandemic years.

Then today it was announced that Yusen Logistics is spending $1.45bn on acquiring Dutch healthcare logistics company Movianto – subject to EU approval.  NYK, the parent company of Yusen Logistics, had already acquired a majority stake in Swedish company Northern Offshore this year and UK company Global Freight Solutions and Dutch company Parts Express last year. Movianto has around 5,400 employees in Europe, primarily in the Netherlands, France and UK.

Although Mitsubishi Corporation has a long history of involvement in salmon and seafood, stretching back to the mid 20th century, as the Financial Times article points out, the acquisition of salmon farms represents a more general trend of Japanese food related companies strengthening Japan’s involvement in the food supply chain, from farming through to restaurant chains. The most recent entrants into our Top 30 largest Japanese companies are Fulham Shore (The Real Greek and Franco Manca restaurant chains, now owned by Toridoll) and Yo! Sushi, now owned by Zensho.

Yusen Logistics is already in our Top 30 largest Japanese companies in the UK, with 1,863 employees. If Movianto UK remains an independent company rather than merged into Yusen Logistics, it too will be in the Top 30, with 1,354 employees. If they are merged, Yusen Logistics will be the 4th largest Japanese company in the UK, after Nissan, Fujitsu and Kwik-Fit (owned by Itochu).

Both NYK and Mitsubishi Corporation are in the same Mitsubishi group of companies, who have been key players in Japan’s global supply chains for the past 150 years.

Rudlin Consulting is the Europe, Middle East and Africa Representative of Japan Intercultural Consulting, which provides post-merger integration cultural training and consulting.