Austrian Post has continued its expansion into Central and Eastern Europe with the acquisitions oftwo mail delivery firms in Poland and Bulgaria to enter the local postal markets.
In Poland, an agreement was signed with the Integer.pl Group on the purchase of KolportazRzetelny while in Bulgaria Austrian Post acquired a stake in M&BM Express.
“The acquisition of these two companies represents the consistent further development ofAustrian Post’s growth strategy in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Walter Hitziger, Member of theManagement Board of Austrian Post. “The delivery of addressed and unaddressed direct mail items byour subsidiaries is one of our core business areas, and also provides a basis for expanding ourinvolvement in these countries in connection with the liberalisation of their postal markets.”
In Poland, private postal group Integer.pl signed an agreement to sell its subsidiaryKolportaz Rzetelny to Austrian Post. The transaction has already been approved by the UOKiK (Officeof Competition and Consumer Protection).
Kolportaz Rzetelny is the Polish market leader in non-addressed mailing, with a market shareof 36 per cent from delivering 1.23 billion items last year and revenue of €11.3 million in 2011.The company has contracts with major Polish and international retail chains, including Rossmann,Deichmann, Eurocash, Nomi, Obi, Leclerc, Lidl, Carrefour and Real.
This is the first step of the development of Austrian Post in the Polish market by enteringinto the non-addressed distribution segment, in which the company is a major player in thecountries of Central and Eastern Europe.
“We are proud that through us such strong players as Austrian Post are entering the Polishmarket. I have no doubts that this is only the beginning of European interest in our postalsector,” commented Rafal Brzoska, CEO of the Integer.pl Group.
Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, Austrian Post has acquired a 26 per cent shareholding in theBulgarian company M&BM Express with effect from May 2, 2012. It also has a call optionagreement for an additional 25 per cent stake in 2013 and another one in 2014 with the possibilityto increase the shareholding up to 76 per cent.
M&BM Express was founded in 2005, and is the largest alternative letter mail serviceprovider on the Bulgarian market, which has been fully liberalised since 2011. Moreover, M&BMExpress is the market leader in the field of hybrid mail. With about 2,500 staff, it deliveredapproximately 75m mail items in 2011, of which 65m were hybrid mail deliveries.
