Year: 2005

Belgian De Post/La Poste Plans IPO in 2009

Posted by | Oct 13, 2005 | |

Belgian postal services company De Post/La Poste plans to go public in 2009, it was reported on October 13, 2005.

Danish postal service Post Denmark and UK investment fund CVC Capital Partners will invest 300 mln euro (USD359.7 mln) in De Post/La Poste in exchange for a 50 pct stake minus one share. Thus the Belgian government will continue to be the majority owner of De Post/La Poste.

Under the deal, Post Denmark may sell its stake in De Post/La Poste not earlier than in five years’ time, while CVC Capital can offer its stake a year earlier but only through an IPO. Post Denmark has a pre-emptive right on CVC Capital shares, while the Belgian government has the pre-emptive right on the consortium’s stake, if it is put up for sale in five years’s time.

Read More

Private-equity group lobbies the government for Royal Mail stake

Posted by | Oct 13, 2005 | |

The private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners is pressing the Government to be allowed to buy a stake in Royal Mail should it decide to part- privatise the state-owned postal operator.

CVC, which owns a number of household names in the UK including the AA and the Debenhams department store, is understood to have approached ministers and the Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton to set out its ideas.

CVC recently completed a EUR6bn (pounds 4bn) fund-raising in Europe to finance acquisitions. Any auction of Royal Mail would be certain to attract interest from rival private-equity firms and other trade bidders.

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson, is due to receive a report from Sir George Bain on the future of Royal Mail before the end of the year, which could pave the way for a partial privatisation of the organisation.

Read More

Deutsche Post to raise profit, dividend 2006

Posted by | Oct 13, 2005 | |

German postal service group Deutsche Post AG expects to raise profit and pay higher dividend in 2006 against 2005, company CEO Klaus Zumwinkel said on October 13, 2005.

Deutsche Post will generate higher profit in 2006, excluding the acquisition of British logistics group Exel plc, which will not influence next-year results, Zumwinkel added.

Deutsche Post forecast strong growth at its express courier, logistics and financial service divisions, which are expected to register an operating profit of 1.6 bln euro (USD1.918 bln) in 2005. Profit at the mail division is seen at 2.0 bln euro (USD2.398 bln).

Read More

Deutsche Post CEO Zumwinkel disappointed with DHL integration in France, UK

Posted by | Oct 13, 2005 | |

Deutsche Post AG chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel said he is disappointed with the integration of DHL in France and the UK, according to an interview to be published in Handelsblatt tomorrow.

But Zumwinkel said he has taken steps to speed up the process, including sacking the head of UK operations.

Deutsche Post acquired DHL in 2002, and has successfully completed the integration of the unit at its German and Dutch operations.

The matter is significant because Deutsche Post must now focus on integrating Exel Plc, which it agreed to acquire for 5.5 bln eur last month.

Overall, Zumwinkel said Deutsche Post’s biggest upcoming challenge will be to ensure that its logistics operations grow at the same pace as the overall market.

Read More

UK Postal regulation delivers a first-class dispute

Posted by | Oct 13, 2005 | |

UK Royal Mail is protesting vociferously to the public and government about the damage that will be wreaked by proposed price controls, while agreeing with many elements of those controls in private, its regulator has suggested.

“They have gone over the top in terms of public comment . . . and some of it is quite deliberate. A lot of the private discussion is much more reasonable – there is much more agreement,” Sarah Chambers, chief executive of Postcomm, says in a Financial Times interview. “We’re not very far apart at all but you wouldn’t hear them say that publicly.”

The assertion is typical of the steely determination evinced by the 46-year-old regulatory chief in the face of intense lobbying by Royal Mail. The regulator and company are at loggerheads over proposals for price controls for 2006-10 that Postcomm issued in June. The “rather highly-charged atmosphere” – as Ms Chambers puts it – reflects the amount at stake for Royal Mail.

Read More

Duo buy half of Belgian Post

Posted by | Oct 13, 2005 | |

Post Danmark, the Danish post office, and CVC Capital, the UK buy-out group, has agreed to buy almost half of the Belgian post office in a transaction that marks a further step in the consolidation of Europe’s postal sector.

The duo will inject Euros 300m (Dollars 367m) into Belgian Post, valuing the group at Euros 640m. CVC bought 22 per cent of Post Danmark in the summer.

Separately, Deutsche Post, Europe’s largest post office, also underlined its ambitions to expand outside its domestic market by announcing the purchase of a majority stake in MailMerge, a Dutch mailing company.

Deutsche Post, which competed in the Belgian Post auction against a team comprising France’s La Poste and TPG of the Netherlands, last month agreed to buy UK logistics group Exel for Pounds 3.7bn (Dollars 6.7bn).

Read More

Magnet extends Lane Group Contract

Posted by | Oct 13, 2005 | |

Lane Group and Kitchen manufacturer Magnet have signed a three year extension to their distribution contract, which won an MT Award this year. Lane handles deliveries from Magnet’s operation centres in Darlington and Keighley to its 220 stores and carries out two-man home deliveries. Magnet supply chain director Ingemar Tarnskar says: “We have signed the contract to highlight the confidence we have in the future partnership.”

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest