Cologne, 12 November 2026 - RSM Ebner Stolz has advised QTRADO with a multidisciplinary team on legal, tax and business matters in connection with its stake in the MELO Group, which is active in press wholesale and logistics.

• Press wholesaler QTRADO acquires a stake in the MELO Group and press wholesaler Trunk
• The transaction is part of the comprehensive restructuring of press wholesale in Germany
• RSM Ebner Stolz supported QTRADO with comprehensive legal, tax and business advice

QTRADO is the second-largest press wholesaler in Germany with distribution areas in North Rhine-Westphalia, northern and central Hesse and western Thuringia, supplying around 11,800 points of sale with newspapers and magazines. Through D-Force-One GmbH, the Leverkusen-based company is also active in the national distribution of newspapers and magazines together with Axel Springer.

The MELO Group is a Munich-based family business that is also active in press wholesale through Presse-Vertrieb Hermann Trunk (PV Trunk), which supplies around 3,150 points of sale in southern Upper Bavaria and Bavarian Swabia, and through PGV Austria Trunk, which supplies all 8,500 press retailers in Austria, as well as in logistics.

QTRADO and PV Trunk, which have been working together in Target Distributions GmbH since 2023, are among the four system partners that, together with the major publishers, are restructuring press distribution in Germany. In this context, MELO has also recently established a joint venture with the press wholesaler Jost as lead cooperation partner. Through its stake in MELO, QTRADO strengthens its position within the future press wholesale system and at the same time expands into Austria.

As early as the end of 2025, QTRADO secured the option to acquire a stake in the MELO Group by granting a convertible loan. Following clearance by the antitrust authorities in Germany and Austria, the equal stake in MELO Holding GmbH has now been completed. The previous sole shareholder, Oliver Trunk Holding GmbH, remains an equal joint venture partner.

RSM Ebner Stolz provided QTRADO with comprehensive legal, tax and business advice on its entry into the MELO Group with a multidisciplinary team, drawing on its many years of expertise in press wholesale.

Advisers to QTRADO: RSM Ebner Stolz
Stefan Thilo (Partner in charge, Corporate/M&A Legal), Dr. Jörg R. Nickel, Dr. Bernd Schumacher (both Partners, Corporate/M&A Legal), Dr. Vincent Pabst (Corporate/M&A Legal), Eva Einfeldt (Partner, Employment Law), Lydia Voß (Employment Law), Dr. Michael Heimig (Partner, M&A Tax), Dr. Nils Mengen (Partner, Transaction Advisory Services), Marc Robin Lüpertz, Chen Tang (all Financial Due Diligence, business advisory)

This text was automatically translated from the German original.