Dutch post and express firm TNT has sold its Belgian mail and Italian unaddressed mail units to their management and Benelux private equity fund NPM Capital, as it focuses on three of its top postal markets. A TNT spokesman would not disclose the sale price but SNS analysts estimated proceeds would be about one times sales for the Belgian business, which excludes TNT's Belgian parcel operations, and substantially less for the Italian activities.
That would raise between 110 and 120 million euros ($157.7 million) in total. "We estimate more than 10 million euros in earnings before interest and tax will need to be removed from TNT's P&L," KBC analyst Dieter Furniere wrote in a note. TNT shares hit a four-month high and were up 1.3 percent to 20.57 euros at 1024 GMT, outperforming a 0.8 percent drop in Amsterdam's blue chip index. Europe's second-largest mail and delivery company said in December 2009 it wanted to focus its European mail activities on addressed mail in Britain, Germany and Italy. It said that liberalisation in European postal markets had not materialised as envisioned. TNT is also splitting its express division from mail as it explores a potential sale of the mail unit, challenged by increased competition and the rise of electronic communication.
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