TPG eyeing stake in Belgian Post

TPG, the Dutch mail and logistics firm, said it could be interested in buying a majority stake in the struggling Belgian postal service.

Belgian media reports quoted TPG Chief Executive Peter Bakker as saying his firm was eyeing a stake in the publicly owned loss-making De Post/La Poste.

“Belgium is a very important market in Europe and if something is moving there, we owe it to ourselves,” Bakker was quoted as saying. He added that TPG was not currently in talks on buying a stake. A TPG spokesman confirmed the reports.

Reuters quoted a top Belgian minister as saying the agency was looking for a strategic partner and that the government was not considering selling it, at least not in the next few years.

The Belgian postal service reported a net loss of €47 million ($55.5 million) in 2002, down from a profit of $46 million in 2001.