In the United Kingdom, OCEAN GROUP has launched a friendly public swap offer of GBP 1.3 billion on fellow UK firm NFC, with a view to creating the world's number two air freight and logistics firm, behind DEUTSCHE POST. The new venture, called EXEL, will be 50-50 owned by shareholders of both groups and will have cumulative turnover of GBP 3.5 billion with 53,000 employees. Each NFC share will be swapped for 0.2274 OCEAN shares.