La Poste sell-off plan on hold
Plans for a partial privatisation of France’s La Poste will not go ahead whilst current market conditions prevail.
PLans for a partial privatisation of France’s La Poste are on hold due to current market conditions.
La Poste said earlier this year it was studying opening its capital to private investors ahead of the liberalisation of Europe’s post office sector in 2011 and has asked the government for a change of status that would allow the move to go ahead.
The distinctive blue and yellow signs of La Poste are a fixed part of the landscape of towns and villages across France and with some 280,000 employees, the partial privatisation has been an intensely sensitive issue.
The group had hoped to raise 2.5-3 billion euros (USD 3.19-USD 3.83 billion) from the sale, which had been expected in 2010 but with world stock markets gyrating wildly in recent weeks, investors have had little appetite for new share issues.
But even if La Poste does not raise capital by selling shares to private investors, it still needs billions of euros to compete with rivals such as United Parcel Service or privatised German post office operator Deutsche Post.
