Emirates Post to buy Indian company

Emirates Post will acquire an Indian cargo and courier company as it moves into new businesses before its proposed privatisation next year.

New business units are being created to handle logistics and remittances services before the UAE postal firm is put under a holding company, which will oversee its expansion abroad, officials told Gulf News yesterday.

“We are introducing new businesses into the overall structure of Emirates Post. Privatisation is the only way for us to run successful operations in the UAE and go into the global market. We cannot go into the global market as government,” Emirates Post Chairman and UAE Minister of Communications Sultan Saeed Al Mansouri said.

An initial public offering of shares will take place “eventually” once restructuring of the company is completed, he added.

Emirates Post Director- General Abdullah Ebrahim Al Daboos said the holding company plan will be discussed with the ministerial committee next week. The entity is likely to be announced in the first quarter of 2007, he said.

The company is trying to acquire freight forwarding, cargo and warehousing businesses in different parts of the world, particularly in Europe, the Middle East, India, China, the Philippines and Indonesia.

“We are discussing with investors, financial institutions and with consultants to help us to buy and merge companies that do business in these countries to complement the services that we are trying to provide,” Al Daboos said.

He said Emirates Post will purchase a cargo and courier company in India in the next two months. The deal will be followed by a foray into the Philippines, Al Daboos said.

Due to the presence of millions of expatriates in the UAE and other Gulf countries, remittance services are expected to play a key role in Emirates Post’s expansion.

It last year acquired a 60 per cent stake money remittance firm Wall Street Exchange Centre.