TNT to leave German market?
TNT NV is mulling whether to turn its back on the German postal market, its Chief Financial Officer Peter Bakker said in a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The letter was reported on Saturday by Dutch media, including Het Financieele Dagblad, and confirmed by a TNT spokesman.
Bakker told Merkel in the letter that he strongly opposes plans for high minimum wages and the beneficial tax status for Deutsche Post, a TNT spokesman said.
“If this situation becomes reality we will reconsider our position, which could include leaving the country,” Bakker was quoted as saying by the spokesman.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Finance Minister Wouter Bos also received a copy of the letter as well as Junior Economy Minister Frank Heemskerk, who is responsible within the government for postal liberalisation.
Investors have closely followed the liberalisation process in the Netherlands as it affects the Dutch mail business, one of TNT’s most profitable units.
The Dutch parliament had approved the new postal law, which is due to end TNT’s remaining monopoly in the Netherlands from January 2008.
It includes a emergency procedure that allows the Economy Ministery to delay the liberalisation if other European countries and particularly Germany do not fully liberalise their markets at the same time.
A spokesman for the Economy Ministry said he had not seen Bakker’s letter yet and that the government was still aiming to introduce the new postal law on Jan. 1 next year.
