Dutch, Belgian Postal Services Hold Unsuccessful Merger Talks
30 May 2016 - 11:10AM
Dow Jones News
BRUSSELS—Belgian postal service Bpost and Dutch rival PostNL on
Sunday said they had been in merger talks but that negotiations
ended without an agreement.
Bpost had made a friendly offer for all the shares of PostNL,
but "these negotiations have, in the end, not led to agreement on
the terms of such a transaction," the companies said in similar
statements on their respective websites.
Trading in shares of both companies was halted on Friday,
following Belgian media reports that Bpost had submitted the offer
to acquire its Dutch competitor. Spokespeople for the companies on
Friday had neither confirmed nor denied the talks and said only
that they would issue a statement before the market opens on
Monday.
The postal sector in Europe is suffering from declining mail
volumes, though it is experiencing rapid growth in parcel delivery,
as more customers shop for goods online. PostNL says it is the
leading mail and parcels company in the Benelux—Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg. Both companies operate in countries
across Europe, North America and Asia.
Bpost has a market capitalization of around 4.87 billion euros
($5.41 billion), nearly three times PostNL's market cap of around
€1.7 billion.
The Belgian state owns about 51% of Bpost, which was first
listed on the Brussels stock exchange in 2013. PostNL was
privatized by the Dutch government in 1989, when it was known as
PTT Post.
Bpost's revenue in 2015 slipped 2.3% to €2.4 billion, while
PostNL's revenue came in flat at about €3.5 billion.
Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 29, 2016 20:55 ET (00:55 GMT)
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