Newspaper reports in Britain are suggesting that US global express giant UPS is preparing to make a bid for European rival TNT. Unsourced reports have suggested that Atlantabased UPS will offer €10-15 billion for the Dutch company. The current UPS/ TNT rumour follows similar reports a month earlier that FedEx was discussing a possible purchase of, or merger with, TNT.
The UK’s Sunday Telegraph, suggested recently that UPS has been working with a private equity company in order to float off the mail division of TNT. It was previously suggested by the Financial Times newspaper in July that one of the problems encountered by FedEx when considering a bid for TNT was the issue of the latter’s mail division.
That business has until recently been a highly profitable part of TNT but has had low levels of revenue growth. Its growth prospects have been further damaged by difficulties in the mail liberalisation process in Germany. TNT’s mail business would be extraneous to the European businessesof both FedEx and UPS.