French road transport group Norbert Dentressangle’s bid to buy rival UK logistics firm Christian Salvesen has been accepted.

In a £254.4 million deal, Norbert Dentressangle will takeover Christian Salvesen, which provides warehousing and distribution services for Marks & Spencer, Danone and Morrisons.

Salvesen can trace its history back to 1846. The firm began experimenting with transporting chilled and frozen food in the 1950s, which is its main business today.

Salvesen shares surged on the news that Dentressangle would pay 92p per share. In morning trade its shares were trading up 27.5p, or 42.3 per cent, at 92.5p. The deal represents a big premium to Salvesen's share price of 51.5p on September 24, before the bid was received.

Dentressangle was founded in 1979, and now employs 15,200 people across 13 countries.