Tokyo-based Nippon Express Group has consolidated three of its companies in Italy.
A ceremony on Jan. 15 marked the merger of the firm’s lifestyle-related logistics services, Nippon Express Italia Srl, Franco Vago SpA, and Traconf Srl. The three companies officially merged on Jan. 1.
The collective will now be called Nippon Express Italia SpA, and will be headquartered in Florence under the direction of new president Arnaldo Vivoli. The company will have 1,212 employees across 87 locations internationally.
Luxury apparel forwarding operations firm Franco Vago, which is engaged in apparel-related forwarding operations primarily for luxury fashion brands in Italy, was first acquired by Nippon Express Co., Ltd. in 2013. In 2018, the company also acquired Tranconf, a warehouse storage and distribution operation that served international luxury brands across Europe, the U.S. and China.
Nippon Express Group now aims to bring together the logistics brokers for the purpose of streamlining sales and operations, according to a statement released Friday. Bringing the entities together will achieve “dramatic growth,” the group said, as it augments efforts in the high-fashion sector.
Nippon Express Group aims to make the new company a leading provider to luxury brands, the company said, adding that forging new opportunities in that arena is central to its forward-looking corporate strategy.
The move will make Nippon Express Italia SpA the largest of Nippon Express Group’s companies in Europe—and the second-largest overseas subsidiary behind Nippon Express USA, Inc.
A new lifestyle division will harness the expertise of Franco Vago and Tranconf in the logistics space, and leverage that know-how to expand sales in more luxury lifestyle industries.
This will allow the group to optimize its rate competitiveness through joint sorting, collection and co-loading in forwarding and trucking operations, the statement said.
The lifestyle business model will also be extended across the rest of the Nippon Express network outside of Italy.