French La Poste to bid for 18 percent of Spanish Seur
Geopost, the courier subsidiary of French post office La Poste, is bidding for the 18 percent of Spanish courier group Seur being put up for sale by Justo Yufera, founder of the company. Mr Yufera is selling Seur Madrid, which is the main franchise of the group and represents 18 percent of Seur.
Three investment funds had already expressed an interest: JP Morgan Partners, Nrigdpoint and Saula Capital. The stake was put up for sale three weeks ago, and the operation is expected to be concluded at the start of April. According to market sources Seur is worth in the region of 600m euros. The other franchise holders, who have the right of first refusal on the stake, are considering taking joint action to prevent the main franchise being sold to an undesirable investor.
AFX – 11.3.04
The state-owned French postal service La Poste is in talks to buy a 21.2 pct stake in Spanish express transport company Seur from its founder and chairman Justo Yufera, Expansion reported without naming a source.
Expansion said, however, that the deal could face difficulties due to the Spanish company’s charter which prevents its sale to a competitor.
La Poste owns Geodis Teisa which is a direct competitor of Seur, it said, noting that the other shareholders in Seur, which jointly own 78.8 pct, plan to block the sale which they consider hostile.
In 2002, Banco Santander Central Hispano SA’s and Royal Bank of Scotland PLC’s jointly-owned venture capital firm Vista Capital decided against buying Seur after lengthy negotiations due to the high asking price.
