Tag: Netherlands

Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm has asked parliament if it has any objection to the government eventually selling its remaining 10 pct stake in TNT NV. In a letter on the sale of TNT shares earlier this month, sent to parliament late yesterday, Zalm cited an agreement from 2001 to inform parliament before taking the government’s stake in TNT below 10 pct. The government cut its stake from 19 pct on July 12. While the letter suggests the government may be readying for a further share sale, the remaining holding is subject to a lock-up period until July 2006.

The Dutch State has cut its stake in mail and logistics company TNT by almost half to about 10 percent, which it plans to keep until the postal market in the Netherlands is fully liberalised. The finance ministry said it sold 43.4 million shares to ABN AMRO and Citigroup raising about 900 million euros (USD1.1 billion). Dealers said the banks were placing the shares in a range of 20.80 to 20.95 euros each. The deal is equivalent to about 30 days’ trading volume. TNT did not participate in the stake sale, a company spokeswoman said. In September, when the government last sold TNT shares to cut its stake to 19 percent, the company had bought back around a third of the shares.