Tag: Italy

Italy’s antitrust regulator Antitrust has imposed a 1.6 mln euro (USD1.9 mln) fine on Italian state-owned postal services provider Poste Italiane, it was reported on April 8, 2006. Poste Italiane was fined because of an abuse of a dominant position in the hybrid electronic mail market and has privileged its subsidiary Postel. Poste Italiane has rendered the market inaccessible for competitors, which operate in the field of postal communication printing and enveloping for big companies, Antitrust said.

As anyone who has sent a letter in Italy can attest, postal delivery service can be a maddening exercise in patience. But Massimo Sarmi, the chief executive of Poste Italiane SpA, came to New York earlier this week with a contrary message: The Italian postal company is shaping up, becoming technologically savvy and readying for a multibillion euro initial public offering as soon as the end of 2006. Poste Italiane is advancing technologically and preparing for a multibillion euro initial public offering, possibly by the end of 2006.
It’s not the first time Italy has floated the idea. Efforts to shape up Poste Italiane and privatize it date to the late 1990s, when a plan of layoffs, automation and new electronic services were intended to bring it to breakeven status by 2001. In another thrust, an IPO was projected in 2002 within 18 months, an effort in which the government would have sold 35% of Poste Italiane for about EUR2.5 billion, valuing it as a whole at nearly EUR6 billion. Those prior efforts have been delayed. The latest plan calls for the National Treasury to sell 20% of the company, reducing its 65% stake to 45%, Sarmi said.

The Italian postal service has seen more cross-border and in-country mail volume as a result of a quality of service program formed by the European Union Postal Directive in 2002 and monitored by an independent organization of postal administrations. Under the quality of service program, if postal organizations meet or exceed delivery targets they receive additional funds. “Quality of service has been very good for us,” said Massimo Sarmi, CEO of Poste Italiane, who spoke to reporters at a media breakfast here yesterday. “Our volumes have increased as well as the overall service quality of our mail.” Sarmi also noted a rise in direct mail in the country.