Austrian Post takes majority control of Bulgarian mail firm

Austrian Post has taken majority control of Bulgarian mail firm M&BM Express by increasingits holding from 26% to 51% as of April 1, 2013.

The postal group exercised a call option agreed when it first bought into the firm last year andalso has the option to acquire a further 25% in the Bulgarian firm in 2014 to increase its stake to76%.

M&BM Express, founded in 2005, is the largest competitor to Bulgarian Post in the nowfully-liberalised Bulgarian mail market and is the market leader for hybrid mail.

With about 2,500 staff, it delivered approximately 75m mail items in 2011, of which 65m werehybrid mail deliveries.