La Poste set to link up with Poste Italiane
La Poste set to link up with Poste Italiane
Financial Times; May 31, 2001
By RAPHAEL MINDER
La Poste, the French post office, is set to form a partnership with Poste Italiane to boost its parcels delivery network in southern Europe.
Martin Vial, chairman, said in an interview that an agreement was “imminent” that would see the two companies pooling some of their parcels activities.
Mr Vial said he then hoped to strengthen the co-operation by exchanging a stake in GeoPost, La Poste’s parcels and logistics unit, with its Italian counterpart.
Mr Vial also said he expects the Greek government to select soon a buyer for a 25 per cent stake in the Greek post office.
La Poste is on a shortlist of bidders alongside Deutsche Post and TPG of the Netherlands.
“Our Italian deal should show the Greeks that we are not pursuing an imperial expansion but rather building a Europe-wide presence via balanced partnerships,” Mr Vial said.
State-owned La Poste has been on an acquisition spree to extend its share of the Euros 30bn (Dollars 25.7bn) European parcels market and rival listed companies such as Deutsche Post.
In the past six months, the French group has spent about Euros 750m to acquire the British and Irish units of Mayne Nickless as well as take control of Deutscher Paket Dienst, Germany’s second biggest parcel company.
“The next step for us is to strengthen our network by adding a very significant presence in southern Europe,” Mr Vial said.
Besides the Italian partnership, the French company is also hoping that the Spanish post office will acquire a stake in GeoPost, which is expected to have revenues of FFr15bn (Euros 2.28bn, Dollars 1.96bn) this year. “It is too early to say how much we will end up selling but the idea is certainly to keep majority control of GeoPost,” Mr Vial said.
To help fund its expansion, La Poste may use a new French law that will give it more leeway in the way it manages its real estate assets. The group owns 17,300 buildings, estimated to be worth FFr25bn.
The French Senate is set to endorse the law today, opening the door for some divestments by La Poste.
“It could be a way of adding financial resources to cover both our internal and external growth,” Mr Vial said.
