TNT has completed the sale of its logistics division to private equity firm Apollo Management forEUR 1.48 million and today launched a EUR 1 billion share repurchasing programme with the bulk of
the proceeds.The sale of the underperforming logistics business to Apollo was announced on August 23. Thetransaction was approved by shareholders on September 29 and by the European Commission on October24.
TNT said that it received around EUR 1.3 billion from the transaction after taking intoaccount the earlier announced deductions by the buyer for finance leases, pension and otheremployee liabilities, and various costs for separation and re-branding. TNT Logistics is due to bere-named following its sale.
The Dutch group will return most of the proceeds to its shareholders by way of a sharerepurchase program with a value of up to EUR 1.0 billion. The buyback of about 32.9 million sharesis being handled by ABN AMRO Bank N.V and is expected to be completed in about six months’ time.TNT plans to cancel the ordinary shares acquired through the repurchase program.
