DHL Acquires Majority Stake in DHL India

“The Netherlands-based DHL Worldwide Express BV will invest Rs 91 crore to acquire a 51.8 per cent stake in DHL Worldwide Express India. This includes the 12.5 per cent held by Deutsche Bank which was originally acquired by its Bankers Trust arm in DHL Worldwide Express India. DHL Worldwide, the world’s largest air express company, will also acquire a 39.3 per cent held by the family of Airfreight promoter Jamshed N Guzder. The Guzder family, which at one point of time owned 100 per cent of the company will thus see its stake fall to 48.2 per cent now. The company was spun off from Airfreight which is now focusing on the domestic courier business while DHL Worldwide Express India will focus on international courier business with service and infrastructure support from AFL. According to documents filed with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) the foreign parent will invest Rs 91 crore to acquire the 12.5 per cent stake held by Deutsche Bank and a part of the Guzder family stake. ‘DHL India has already received FIPB approval for the deal, but other legal approvals are not in place yet,’ company sources said. Deutsche Bank’s original stake was held by Bankers Trust – as part of a private equity investment – which was acquired by the former. Though DHL Worldwide did not have any equity stake in the Indian company earlier, the India operations were seamlessly merged into its global network. The DHL brand has been used by the Indian operations since 1979. DHL’s network links over 1,20,000 destinations in 228 countries and territories, and employs 71,000 people. On a yearly basis, DHL sends more than 140 million shipments. It is majority owned by Deutsche Post world Net, a listed German company logistics company. Other shareholders include Lufthansa and Japan Airlines. The total turnover of the DHL group for ’01 was $5.5 billion.” (Source: the Economic Times)
Reported on Pitney Bowes website – postalinsight.com