Deutsche Post will review the future of its retail bank, Postbank, next year and already has a “queue of interested parties”, according to chairman Klaus Zumwinkel. But Germany’s largest consumer
bank remains officially not up for sale.In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published today, Zumwinkel said: “ThePostbank is currently not for sale. At the moment, we are the best owners.” But reiteratingcomments made at the company’s Q3 press and analyst conferences, he added: “We can think about thefuture of Postbank more intensively next year once all the regulations are complete and theconditions on the postal market are clear.” There is already “a queue of interested parties,including foreign banks”, he commented. The bank, whose shares have risen strongly recently, iscurrently worth about EUR 9 billion. Deutsche Post holds a 50% stake.
The Deutsche Post chairman also indicated that the company might have to seek compulsoryredundancies next year following full postal liberalisation, and reiterated his interest in jointlysetting up a free newspaper business.
Meanwhile, DPWN will earn EUR 159.8 million from the sale of 26 logistics buildings in Franceto British property firm Segro under a sale and leaseback deal.
Separately, ABX Air announced it will go to arbitration with DHL in its dispute over DHL’sdecision to withhold payment of some overhead expenses to ABX Air. But DHL has now paid $8.8million for budgeted expense reimbursements that it previously withheld.
