A dispute has broken out between Royal Mail and TNT over ‘poaching’ of customers of parcelssubsidiary GLS that could overshadow the potential sale of a stake in the British postal operator
to the Dutch group.The Guardian newspaper reported that Royal Mail CEO Adam Crozier had claimed TNT had toldmajor customers of Royal Mail’s European parcels subsidiary GLS that TNT would be buying GLS, eventhough GLS is not part of the planned Royal Mail sell-off.
“GLS are reporting to me that some of their bigger customers are being approached by TNT andare being told that TNT will secure a full takeover of GLS,” he wrote in an e-mail to the UK’sDepartment for Business. One major Polish customer had apparently been told this by CEO PeterBakker personally, Crozier said.
In his e-mail, Crozier wrote: “As you know this is a highly competitive market which is inthe process of semi-collapse across Europe and there is a real threat that the [part-privatisation]process we are going through is being used by our competitors/bidders to undermine GLS … clearlynot a good outcome for the company or you as a shareholder.” The Royal Mail chief called on thegovernment to prevent TNT from further “damaging” its business.
In response, a TNT spokesman told the newspaper that the company “does not recognise theseallegations at all” and any employee trying to poach customers would probably face disciplinaryaction.
Several UK newspapers said that the dispute could increase opposition to the plans to sell aminority stake in Royal Mail. About 140 Labour MPs have signed a motion against thepart-privatisation, which could force the government to rely on opposition parties to secureparliamentary approval. The Postal Services Bill will be debated in the House of Commons this week.
TNT has publicly said that it is interested in entering a strategic partnership with RoyalMail, including buying a minority holding. Other European postal operators may also be interested,according to UK newspapers.
