TNT may sell logistics unit ahead of schedule
TNT, the Dutch mail group, has received a large number of expressions of interest in its contract logistics business from both trade and financial parties, and may sell the unit ahead of schedule, according to people familiar with the process.
When TNT announced the decision to divest in December, it said it expected to complete the sale in the second half of 2006. However the speed at which the process is moving suggests it may be finalised sooner, those people said.
TNT wants to divest the business as one unit, without breaking it up, but a piecemeal sale is possible. However, while the latter course would be more complex, it is not considered an insurmountable obstacle. Alternatively, a buyer for the entire business might separately sell on some activities to a third party.
The assets on offer comprise operations and warehouses in 40 countries on five continents, focused primarily on automotive, fast-moving consumer goods, publishing and hi-tech electronics sectors, with sales of Euros 3.4bn (Dollars 4bn), 27 per cent of the group total.
The level of interest may surprise analysts who had suggested buyers might be hard to come by. Deutsche Post, which bought Exel of the UK, has been tipped for parts of the TNT business, with private equity companies also likely to figure in the list of suitors.
Analysts estimate the potential value of the world’s second-largest contract logistics operation at between Euros 1.5bn and Euros 2.2bn. TNT has said it expected to make “some profit” on the unit, which has a net book value of Euros 1.4bn.
TNT said the sale process was “on track”. “The bid book is ready and can be distributed to anyone who is interested,” it said. It declined further comment.
The company is understood to have no contact with Cornelius Geber, the German private equity investor who in November announced he was putting together a consortium to bid for TNT in its entirety. Nothing has been heard publicly from Mr Geber since he said at that time that various parties were interested in forming a group to bid for TNT.
