Deutsche Post may be unsuccessful with Austrian Post plans

Deutsche Post, the operator of Germany’s postal service, may not be able to acquire a stake in Austrian postal service operator Osterreichische Post as planned. At present, the Austrian postal service belongs to Osterreichische Industrieholding, a state-owned industrial holding company; the company had originally intended to find a strategic investor by 2006. Deutsche Post was thought to be the most likely candidate, and was expected to acquire a stake of 25.1 per cent.

However, Osterreichische Post now says that it does not believe itself to be under any financial pressure to find a strategic partner, and that it does not expect to have to search for investors before 2007. Deutsche Post says that it will examine the possibility of acquiring shares in rivals of Osterreichische Post if it is unable to purchase a stake in the company. Experts believe that it would have been difficult for Deutsche Post to achieve synergies initially with only a minority stake in the Austrian company.