Emirates Post has unveiled ambitious plans to expand into new markets, including logistics, andto float a minority stake next year. The UAE post office would move into other Gulf and regional
markets through acquisitions as well as develop new businesses, director general Abdulla Ibrahim AlDaboos said at the Post-Expo trade fair in Paris.“We intend to float a 49 per cent stake in the Emirates Post group in the next six months,” AlDaboos told the World Postal Business Forum conference. This stake could be valued at $1 billion,he stated. The holding company, grouping a wide range of business units and subsidiaries, would beformed prior to privatisation.
“Our ambition is to be regional, to be in logistics and in financial services,” Al Daboosdeclared. Emirates Post was in talks with local companies in the shipping and logistics sectors,with the aim of establishing a presence in the Gulf region, Indian sub-continent and south-eastAsia, he disclosed. The post office also planned close cooperation with airlines for internationalair express operations.
Within the UAE, Emirates Post was investing in new technology for its mail business, developingdirect marketing activities and expanding its hybrid mail operations, Al Daboos said. The Dubaiinternational mail hub was being used by operators such as Deutsche Post and Swiss Post as a hubfor Asia, he pointed out. The courier subsidiary Empost, meanwhile, had a 60 per cent domesticmarket share after four years in operation.
Emirates Post was very interested in growing its financial services business to take advantageof the $40 billion market for international remittances made by foreign workers in the UAE to theirhome countries. “We want a share of that market. We aim for 60 per cent in the UAE,” Al Daboossaid. “We will be buying a financial services company very soon.” An Emirates Post bank wouldfollow in about three years’ time.
Property management was another new business area that the postal company would expand into, headded.
