Rivals bid to put brakes on Deutsche Post buying spree
GERMANY’S delivery and postal services giant Deutsche
Post is gaining speed on the acquisition path, but getting more
pressure from and anti-trust authorities in its buying stampede,
designed to make it one of the world’s largest logistics and
delivery companies. Only days after Deutsche Post said it was seeking to take over
Austrian freight forwarder Cargoplan (Lloyd’s List, July 16), there
was that the company is considering a bid for Hays, the UK personnel
and logistics services enterprise. A Post spokesman refused to comment. ‘We are bombarded with rumours,
because we have been buying a number of companies recently,’ he
added. The ongoing expansion is accompanied by restructuring. In Germany,
the company said yesterday that it would cut the number of its
80,000 domestic postmen by 3,000, without redundancies. The company announced the sale of container and other freighting
activities of Nedlloyd Road Cargo, in order to focus on small parcel
activities. The buyer is Antwerp’s Wijnhaard Natie. Nedlloyd Road
Cargo’s small parcel business will be moved to Van Gend & Loos Euro
Express, Deutsche Post’s main operative company in the Benelux
countries. However, the German monopoly is currently experiencing some
difficulties with regulators, partly spurred by rivals. In the US,
FedEx Corporation asked the Washington government to halt Deutsche
Post group member DHL’s attempt to have its five-year licence for
air cargo transport between the US and Mexico renewed. It expires in
January. FedEx together with UPS want the US government to halt any licensing
to DHL until a review of DHL complicated ownership structure has
been In Germany, Deutsche Post’s parcel service Transoflex, in which
it owns 24.8%, is under attack. The German cartel office is currently studying whether Deutsche Post
actually controls the company and whether this would lead to a
dominating market position in parcel services. The Bayerische Landesbank bank, which is the majority owner of
Transoflex, might see its stake as a pure financial interest, giving
Deutsche Post control of the operative business. A decision should
be later this month.
Copyright 2001 Lloyds List.
Source: World Reporter (Trade Mark) – FT McCarthy.LLOYDS LIST, 19th July 2001
