La Poste delivers a rapid end to partnership with Correos
La Poste, the French national postal operator, has broken off its partnership with Spanish counterpart Correos, selling the latter the remaining 25.77 per cent stake that it owned in Chronoexpres, the joint venture created by the two companies in 2001. With annual turnover of 146.1m euros, Chronoexpres operates in the urgent package delivery segment.
Originally, the Spanish company owned 57 per cent of the joint venture and La Poste owned the remaining 43 per cent, but the two national postal operators fell out over Correos’ decision to buy the loss-making company Servipack from Spanish bank Santander Central Hispano (SCH). To finance this operation, its carried out a capital increase at Chronoexpres, but the French company refused to participate and its stake was diluted down to 25.77 per cent.