Tag: Deutsche Post

K+N protests as Deutsche Post swoops for Exel

Posted by | Sep 22, 2005 | |

Swiss logistics company Kuehne + Nagel has criticised the likely takeover of UK-based supply chain giant Exel by Germany’s Deutsche Post. ‘This is a serious threat to free market competition,’ K+N’s chairman Klaus-Michael Kuehne said, according to Swiss daily Tages- Anzeiger. Mr Kuehne has repeatedly attacked the German market leader for its monopoly in standard letter delivery, which was providing easy cash funds for acquisitions in the logistics industry. ‘Apart from the fact that the logistics industry in its medium-sized structure will be faced with unfair competition, there is now a serious threat to free competition through the utilisation of the mail monopoly to finance the merger of Deutsche Post and Exel,’ he said earlier this month. A spokesman for Deutsche Post strongly dismissed the attacks. In response to suggestions that there was a connection between profits from the mail business and investments in logistics companies such as Danzas, DHL or Airborne, he said: ‘This is definitely wrong. Mr Kuehne is telling untruths.’

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Deutsche Post denies pounds 3.7bn is too much to pay for Exel

Posted by | Sep 20, 2005 | |

The head of Germany’s Deutsche Post yesterday defended his decision to launch a GBP 3.7bn agreed bid for Britain’s Exel in a deal that will mark a further round of consolidation in the global logistics business. Deutsche Post is offering GBP 2.44 a share, 24% above the Exel closing price before announcement of the initial approach from the German company and 48% higher than the price at which Exel shares were changing hands before the UK company found itself at the centre of bid speculation in July. Klaus Zumwinkel, Deutsche Post’s chief executive, shrugged off some analysts’ concerns that his company had paid a stiff price for the British concern, arguing that the combination of the two businesses would create the world’s biggest logistics company. Rejecting criticism over the price, which is more than twice the pounds 1.6bn the group paid to acquire DHL two years ago, Mr Zumwinkel said the combined logistics business and parcels operation would provide growing earnings to offset stagnant profits from the core mail division. “We can expect attractive growth rates in the future . . . driven by global trade and increased outsourcing.”

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Pressure on to make Exel the right fit

Posted by | Sep 20, 2005 | |

One date has been etched on the brains of Deutsche Post executives for years: December 31 2007. It marks the end of the German postal group’s exclusive licence in its domestic market – its biggest source of profit. After that, German postal services will be opened fully to competition. The threat posed by the deregulation was underlined this month when three of the biggest newspaper publishers in Germany teamed up to launch a group to tackle Deutsche Post in letter delivery. They are promising a national network and cheaper prices. They are also looking for other publishers to join the venture.

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Exel could face counter bid to Deutsche Post’s agreed takeover

Posted by | Sep 19, 2005 | |

Deutsche Post AG’s agreed 5.5 bln eur (3.7 bln stg) cash and shares takeover of Exel PLC could be scuppered by rival bids, with American giants United Parcel Service Inc and/or Fedex Corp tipped to spoil the party. Although both Deutsche Post and Exel have agreed a 37.4 mln stg penalty if either side walks away from the recommended offer, the UK group’s board, led by chairman Nigel Rich, has a fiduciary duty to consider any other offers. The German group’s recommended bid is pitched at 12.44 stg a share – 9.0 stg (some 73 pct) in cash with the balance in Deutsche Post shares. Some analysts believe the equity element to the offer could be the deal’s Achilles heel. ‘Despite a mix-and-match agreement potentially watering down the share element for some Exel shareholders, we suspect this will be unpopular and leave the door open to a cash offer from UPS,’ said Alastair Gunn, analyst at Arbuthnot. He reckons major shareholders will likely sit tight until the intentions of UPS, which has reportedly appointed Goldman Sachs to look into the logic of a counter offer, are better known.

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Deutsche Post agrees pounds 3.7bn Exel bid

Posted by | Sep 19, 2005 | |

Deutsche Post will today unveil a Pounds 3.7bn agreed takeover of Exel, the UK logistics company, in an attempt to wean it off its dependence on mail delivery in Germany before it loses its monopoly in two years’ time. Both boards approved the deal at the weekend to create the world’s biggest logistics group with a workforce of about 500,000 and combined revenues last year of Euros 52bn (Pounds 35bn). Deutsche Post, Europe’s biggest postal service, is offering a mix of cash and shares that values Exel at about Pounds 12.40 a share. The shares component will be about 28 per cent. The German group is also proposing cost synergies of Euros 200m a year. UPS, the most likely rival suitor, is believed to be watching the situation closely but it is not known if the US group will counter-bid. Analysts have suggested UPS’s rival, Federal Express, might also be interested. The takeover will be seen as a success for John Allan, Exel’s chief executive, who will run the enhanced logistics operations from Bracknell, Berkshire. He will also gain a seat on Deutsche Post’s management board.

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