InPost parcel terminal roll-out attracts €50m equity funding
US alternative investment group PineBridge Investments is investing EUR 50m into a project from Polish company Integer.pl Group to expand its network of automated parcel terminals in Central Europe. The project will also see the Poland’s largest private sector postal company investing EUR 58m of its own cash and capital over two years.
Subject to approval by Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), the joint investment fund will back Integer’s plans to expand its award-winning “easyPack” network in Europe and former Soviet states.
Integer’s parcel terminals, provided through its InPost unit, allow consumers to take delivery of parcels and ecommerce purchases during the day, when they might otherwise be at work. Comprising a bank of lockers accessed by personal codes sent to parcel recipients when their parcels arrive, they are available 24 hours a day.
InPost has plans to establish 16,000 parcel terminals across Europe by 2016, with units already in place in Poland, Russia and the Baltic Republics, with terminals also going into Spain, Cyprus and Ireland.
The investment fund with Pinebridge will support installations in 12 countries, the two companies said yesterday.
Strengthen
Rafal Brzoska, the Integer.pl Group chief executive, said the investment came after an “important year”, with his company achieving considerable growth in 2011 with contract wins around the world.
“The agreement with PineBridge will allow us to further strengthen our position and capture the significant growth opportunities we are seeing in this sector,” said Brzoska.
PineBridge Investments said it had been “impressed” with the success of Integer.pl, particularly with its easyPack network in Poland, which is planned to grow to 1,000 units by 2016.
Pierre Mellinger, the CEO and president of PineBridge Investments in Central Europe said: “PineBridge is proud to join forces with Integer.pl, led by its founder Rafal Brzoska, to provide growth equity for the regional development of this very successful Polish company.”
InPost’s ambitious growth plans have seen the company nominated for one of this year’s prestigious World Mail Awards, with awards set to be announced at a ceremony in Geneva on May 21.
