La Poste France interested in buying stake in Austrian Postal Service

French postal service La Poste and a Scandinavian company have expressed interest in buying stakes in the Austrian postal service, which is being privatised by the Austrian government, Euro am Sonntag magazine reported citing a spokeswoman for Austrian state holding company OeIAG.

OeIAG spokeswoman Viktoria Kickinger also told the magazine that according to an expert report from JP Morgan, the purchase price should be “well under 1 bln eur”.

It remains unclear, however, how much of the state-owned company will be sold.

Germany’s Deutsche Post World Net AG has already said it is interested in buying a majority stake in the Austrian postal service. Industry sources have said the German company is in talks to take a 74.9 pct stake in its Austrian peer for around 1 bln eur.

Kickinger told Euro am Sonntag that OeIAG expects to receive an official ministerial order to proceed with the privatisation of the Austrian postal service “in the next few weeks”.

But she said it would be about a year before a buyer is selected