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Pall-Ex Group has revealed plans to expand further into Europe following last month's management buyout that saw founder, owner and chairwoman Hilary Devey step away from the day-to-day running of the business.

The group is now collectively owned by its UK network membership and senior management team in an arrangement it claims is the first of its kind for the sector.

The new owners are now discussing shareholder options with Pall-Ex’s international partners to further grow the European arm of the business.

RUN DMC Investments, a company created by Dave Fairbrother, Maggie Larimore and Craig Stevens, founder members of Pall-Ex, funded the initial membership part of the acquisition.

All have "decades of experience running successful logistics businesses" and are said to be looking forward to working together to take Pall-Ex to the next level of palletised freight delivery.

Technology is now at the forefront of the business, the company said, with major advancements anticipated in the next few months, including a "pioneering" transport management system (TMS).

Maggie Larimore, one of the founder-directors of Run DMC, said: “We are delighted that more than 70% of Pall-Ex’s UK membership will be shareholders and that the senior management have chosen to commit their long-term futures to help us grow.”

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Added Kevin Buchanan, CEO of Pall-Ex Group: “The senior management have bought into a five-year vision to build Pall-Ex, which is already an outstanding brand, into a market-leading European network. We are already in discussion with our international partners to invest further into Pall-Ex Group to deliver an ambitious development programme. We are also actively growing our UK network membership to further increase our shareholder members within Pall-Ex UK.

“I am excited about this journey and how far we can take the business; we have some key developments happening in the next few weeks, and so will be releasing information about these in due course.”