Logistics & transport businesses for sale
Last-mile, regional freight, warehousing, cold-chain and 3PL operators across Spain, Italy and Japan. A category where succession + e-commerce growth meet.
Market context
Three structural tailwinds converge: ageing owners across regional trucking, e-commerce volumes still compounding 8–12% annually in ES/IT and rising in JP, and EU emissions regulation (CBAM, Euro 7, ZEV mandates) pushing un-modernised operators to sell rather than reinvest. Roll-up theses are well-funded across all three countries.
Typical opportunities
Trucking fleets, regional 3PLs, customs brokers, last-mile networks, cold-chain warehouses. €1.5–25M revenue, 10–120 employees, asset-light or asset-heavy depending on fleet ownership.
Who acquires here
Logistics platforms, private equity logistics roll-ups, e-commerce operators integrating fulfilment, family offices.
Hot regions for logistics & transport deals
Madrid (national hub), Barcelona–Zaragoza corridor (Mediterranean–Atlantic axis), Valencia and Algeciras (port-adjacent), Murcia (cold-chain for fresh produce export).
Lombardia (Milan logistics belt), Verona (Quadrante Europa interport), Bologna, Naples and the Genoa port hinterland.
Greater Tokyo and Yokohama, Osaka–Kobe industrial corridor, Fukuoka for Kyushu distribution. Cold-chain is concentrated around port and airport hubs.
What these businesses typically sell for
Real estate (cross-docks, warehouses) often owned by the seller's holding and rented back via a long-term lease; financed separately by REITs or family offices.
From shortlist to closing
- 01Source & shortlist
Filter live deals by country, ticket size and operator profile. We surface the public listing plus a structured memo with the seller's public footprint, registry filings and press history.
- 02Initial outreach (NDA + LOI)
Most listings here are broker-mediated. After NDA, expect a teaser, then a CIM with audited accounts. A non-binding LOI follows once you confirm fit on price, financing and transition.
- 03Due diligence
Financial, tax, legal, commercial and operational DD over 6–10 weeks. For succession deals, retention of the founder for 6–24 months post-close is standard and often a deal-breaker if missing.
- 04SPA & closing
Local notary in ES/IT, judicial scrivener in JP. Expect earn-outs or vendor financing on 30–50% of succession deals where the seller wants tax deferral or a clean transition.
What to verify before you sign
Top 3 customers above 50% of revenue is common. Ask for revenue-by-customer for 36 months and contract end dates.
Driver shortage across ES/IT/JP is structural. Validate retention rates, average tenure and pipeline through training schools.
Average fleet age above 7 years signals catch-up capex of €30–80k per truck. Factor EU ZEV mandates and Japan's Green Logistics Partnership into the model.
Where the warehouse is rented, check the lease tail. Sub-3-year remaining lease is a re-pricing risk that can erase 1–2 turns of EBITDA.
Buying a logistics & transport business
- How are these logistics businesses sourced?
- We aggregate listings from official SMB marketplaces in Spain (Bizalia, Negocius, Idealista), Italy (Cherry Acquisition, Bakeca Aziende) and Japan (Tranbi, Batonz, Smergers). Every result links back to the original public listing — we don't re-list, we surface.
- Are asking price and revenue available for every listing?
- When the source publishes them, yes — we extract asking price, revenue and EBITDA into the card. Many succession deals are listed without financials by design; for those we generate an investor memo on demand using the public footprint.
- Can I get alerted when new logistics deals appear?
- Yes. Members get weekly off-market alerts filtered to this category and country. The cache refreshes weekly across all sources.
- Do I need to be in Spain, Italy or Japan to acquire one of these businesses?
- No. Cross-border SMB acquisitions are well-established across all three countries. Spain and Italy welcome EU and non-EU buyers with no restrictions on share purchases. Japan allows 100% foreign ownership of SMBs; the practical bottleneck is local advisors and language, both of which we can introduce members to.
- What's the typical timeline from finding a logistics deal to closing?
- Three to nine months is normal for an off-market succession deal. Listings on official marketplaces tend to move faster (60–120 days) because the seller has already engaged a broker and prepared a teaser. Distressed and court-driven sales follow a fixed calendar set by the auction or insolvency procedure.