Public trading in PostNL shares started today as the separation of TNT Express was completedafter a two-stage transition process over the last few days.
PostNL CEO Harry Koestra sounded the gong at the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange tocelebrate the full launch of the new PNL share. Restricted trading started on May 26 at a referenceprice of €7.60 and the stock closed yesterday at €7.39.
The company, re-branded from TNT Post, has also started an advertising campaign under the slogan“Tomorrow is today” to promote its new name to Dutch customers.
The rebranding means that the name TNT Post will disappear in the Netherlands over the next fewyears. The new corporate identity will gradually be applied to delivery vans, trucks and postboxes,and at the end of this year and the beginning of next year, mail deliverers will start wearingclothing in the new style. PostNL’s new logo will also appear on and in all post offices andbuildings. The Dutch royal designation Koninklijk is being retained and orange will remain thedominant colour in the new corporate identity.
In other countries where the company is active the rebranding will be carried out at a laterdate, which is yet to be decided. The name TNT Post will continue to be used until this time.
Meanwhile, the legal demerger of TNT Express from TNT NV was officially completed at 0.00 CETthis morning. This resulted in 70.1% of the shares in the company that temporarily owned theExpress business, TNT Express Holdco B.V., being demerged by TNT N.V. to TNT Express N.V. Aspart of the legal demerger, TNT Express N.V. has allotted ordinary shares to the existingshareholders of TNT N.V. TNT shareholders have received one ordinary share in the newly listed TNTExpress N.V. for each one ordinary TNT N.V. share currently held.
Secondly, this morning the demerger was followed by a merger between TNT Express N.V. and TNTExpress Holdco B.V., after which TNT Express Holdco B.V. will cease to exist. This merger willbecome effective immediately after 00.00 CET tonight.
As part of the merger, TNT Express will allot such number of shares to TNT N.V. for it to hold29.9% of the ordinary shares of TNT Express N.V. This minority shareholding is to be a financialshareholding to cover equity and funding requirements. It is governed by an agreement that providesfor the terms and conditions on lockup and orderly market arrangements, subject to which PostNLwill reduce its shareholding over time, TNT Express stated.
As from tomorrow the issued share capital of TNT Express N.V. will consist of 542,033,181ordinary shares.
Since its listing on May 26 at €9.40, the TNT Express share (‘TNTE’) has risen to close at €9.71yesterday on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam and was trading slightly higher at €9.81 at about 15.00today.
