DHL divests its route planning solutions provider Greenplan through management buyout to current Greenplan CEO, former head of strategy and business development; new owners will lead scale-up and continue to develop company while DHL to remain a customer

BONN, Germany , January 17, 2022 (press release) –

• Deutsche Post DHL Group has signed an agreement with current management team to divest Greenplan GmbH, a route planning solution provider owned by DHL.
• Greenplan's unique software solution enables route optimization with significant cost, time and CO₂ savings for delivery and maintenance organizations worldwide.
• The divestment will further accelerate the successful development of Greenplan.

Deutsche Post DHL Group has announced the divestment of Greenplan GmbH, a DHL owned route planning solution provider, to current management team through a management buyout (MBO). Dr. Clemens Beckmann, CEO of Greenplan, has led the acquisition together with Florian Merget, former Head of Strategy and Business Development at Greenplan and now Co-owner with a 25% share and Managing Director of Greenplan GmbH. They will continue to manage and strategically develop Greenplan's business of cloud-based, dynamic route optimization. Greenplan provides an attractive solution for national and international logistics companies to improve business performance and customer satisfaction in an environment-friendly way.

"The commitment by Dr. Clemens Beckmann and Florian Merget to invest in and further develop the Greenplan solution, marks an important step in the successful growth story of Greenplan. With the management buyout the team will now accelerate the growth of that unique route planning solution provider", says Katja Busch, Chief Commercial Officer at DHL. "Smart route planning, based on a powerful algorithm, helps forwarders and customers with large fleets to optimize the utilization of their vehicles, to improve route planning, and ultimately reduce CO₂ emissions by driving fewer kilometers."

"Greenplan, having its roots in the world's leading logistics company DHL and the renowned Mathematical Institute of the University of Bonn, Germany, has created a superior solution to improve the efficiency and reduce the costs of the transport industry, and making a big impact in fighting climate change", says Dr. Clemens Beckmann, CEO of Greenplan. "Together with the team we have the right industry knowledge, skill set and expertise needed to capture the global business opportunity. We are enthusiastic about this opportunity to drive the growth of Greenplan together as a team." 

"Tech company Greenplan started off as a research cooperation between DHL and the Mathematical Institute of the University of Bonn in 2016, initially being a research project to optimize transportation and route planning for the world-leading logistics company DHL", Florian Merget says. "In the last years, Greenplan successfully expanded its customer base, solutions and won blue-chip external clients for its algorithm. We are confident that we can release our full potential going forward and grow into new markets. We are convinced that Greenplan has an excellent future."

With the transaction Deutsche Post DHL Group is following its commitment to focus on its core business of transportation and logistics services; as Deutsche Post DHL does not consider the commercial scale-up of software start-ups to be a core activity. The new management will now lead the global scale-up of the business and further development of the algorithm, while DHL is looking forward to remain an important long-term customer.

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