Tag: Germany

Postbank sale talks close to collapse

Posted by | Aug 19, 2008 | |

Active talks between Deutsche Post and potential buyers of its majority stake in Germany’s biggest retail lender Deutsche Postbank have stalled, casting doubt on wider banking consolidation.

Several sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that no buyer was in sight for Deutsche Post’s stake of 50 percent plus one share, sending the shares to a three-year low.

Another source familiar with the matter said Deutsche Bank, the last remaining potential bidder involved in intensive talks, is no longer interested at this time.

“There are no longer any talks with Deutsche Bank. The price expectations were too far apart,” the source said, adding the price would have to fall dramatically for Deutsche to return to the negotiating table.

“The process has broken down, but is not dead yet,” another person familiar with the matter said.

Postbank, which has nearly 15 million customers, was seen as the biggest prize of a long hoped-for consolidation in the German banking sector, in which German insurer Allianz is also seeking a partner for its embattled Dresdner Bank.

Consolidation looked to be moving forward this year when France’s Credit Mutuel bought Citigroup’s German retail operations.

But analysts say differences of views on sale prices and the valuation of assets and risks on lenders’ books in face of financial market uncertainties may keep sellers and buyers from reaching agreement.

Reuters reported last month that British bank Lloyds TSB was also dropping out of the running for Postbank, which has a market capitalization of 7 billion euros (USD 10.28 billion), down from more than 10 billion just two months ago.

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DPD opens three further depots in Russia

Posted by | Aug 18, 2008 | |

CEP service provider DPD has now expanded its network in Russia to thirty locations. The three recently opened depots in Novokuznetsk, Orenburg and Astrakhan enable DPD to serve all of Russia’s regions with a comprehensive service portfolio, ranging from DPD CLASSIC to Express shipping. As is the case in Germany, this means that in Russia, too, DPD remains true to its strategy of operating close to the customer on a regional basis.

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Deutsche Post to set up some 1,500 points of sale by the end of 2008

Posted by | Aug 18, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post will start expanding its points of sale for stamps and prepaid Paketmarken in the coming weeks across Germany.

Overall some 1,500 further points of sale are to be set up by the end of the year at locations which experience high customer traffic in addition to the existing 300 points of sale of this kind. Deutsche Post is working in cooperation with retailers to provide these points of sale.

Additionally to some 14,000 retail outlets already in existence the new points of sale will give Deutsche Post customers a supplementary source to obtain stamps and DHL Paketmarken. Stamps will continue to be available around the clock at 3,700 stamp vending machines and DHL Paketmarken at some 1,000 Packstations, set to rise to 2,500 by 2009.

Pre-franked packages and parcels can be taken to Packstations independently of retail outlet opening hours. Shipments with DHL Paketmarken can also be sent at any time of day or night via the 1,000 DHL Paketboxes across Germany in the same way that franked letters are posted in collection boxes.

With the new point of sale format the company hopes to further expand its service to customers, strengthen its own business and better position itself with regard to its competitors. Through cooperation with local businesses Deutsche Post customers who are simply buying stamps will benefit from the favorable opening hours at local retailers and can thus make use of additional contact points for two of the most frequently requested mail products.

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DHL and METRO Group start largest RFID rollout in France

Posted by | Aug 18, 2008 | |

DHL and METRO Group are starting the first national rollout of radio frequency identification (RFID) in France.

Beginning in the fall of 2008, DHL will equip all shipments to the 89 Metro Cash & Carry self-service wholesale stores in France with RFID transponders and read them out along the entire supply chain.

Some 1.3 million pallets per year will be fitted with the RFID tags to facilitate contactless and automated monitoring of the supply chain. In taking this step, DHL and METRO Group are initiating the largest RFID rollout in French retail logistics.

METRO Group is also the first retail company to join the DHL Innovation Initiative, whose members as yet are primarily technology companies.

DHL expects the major project to send a signal to the entire area of retail logistics as well as to other segments of the logistics industry.

With this project METRO Group continues to drive forward the international deployment of the technology.

In the RFID project, five DHL food logistics centers will equip all shipments to the self-service wholesale stores with RFID tags. These RFID transponders are read out during the loading process, and the data are electronically transmitted to the individual stores.

When the shipments arrive at the recipient’s facilities, the tags are read out again and the data are automatically checked against the order.

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Deutsche Postbank sale decision will not drag on

Posted by | Aug 15, 2008 | |

It would be unwise to set a time frame for a decision over the sale of Deutsche Postbank, but it will not drag on for much longer, Deutsche Post’s Chief Executive told a German newspaper.

Appel said it is actually an attractive time for foreign banks to be looking at buying German banks, but the credit crisis had made financing such a deal more problematic.

Deutsche Post has been in talks for weeks with potential suitors for its majority stake in Postbank, but has not struck a deal so far. Appel repeated that Deutsche Post will not sell the stake unless the offer was good.

Sources familiar with the situation say Deutsche Bank is among interested parties along with Banco Santander and ING.

A key issue is the valuation of Postbank, whose market capitalisation has fallen to around 7.6 billion euros (USD 11.33 billion), below the sale price of above 10 billion euros that the sources said had been floated earlier this summer.

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