French Xaap Finance to buy 70 percent in TAT Express
French holding company Xaap Finance, controlled by the Papot family, will acquire a 70 pct stake in the capital of local TAT Express, the express freight transport subsidiary of French national post office La Poste, it was reported on March 31, 2005.
Xaap Finance holding will be headed by Philippe Papot, who is also president of the supervising board of French Groupe Multipap, specialised in desktop and computer-aided publishing.
TAT Express has 1,500 employees and is a subsidiary of GeoPost, the holding which regroups the main French and European parcels trademarks of La Poste group. TAT Express was founded in 1976 and since 1994 has been part of La Poste group. TAT Express has an annual turnover of 175 mln euro (USD226.7 mln) but registered a net loss for 2003, accounting for 8.84 pct of its annual turnover.
Groupe Multipap, based in Rennes, regroups eight companies, covering all the activities in the field of desktop and computer-aided publishing. Multipap employs 450 and generates a 60 mln euro (USD77.7 mln) annual turnover.
Xavier Papot, president of the Multipap management board, underlined that the acquisition of the TAT Express is an investment of the Papot family, and the operation has no connection with Multipap. Having in mind the fact that beside the Papot family, other investors will enter the capital of Xaap Finance no synergy will be developed between TAT Express and Multipap, he added.
