UPS to buy TNT Express for $6.77B

UPS to buy TNT Express for $6.77B

United Parcel Service Inc. announced on Monday it has agreed to buy TNT Express NV for $6.77 billion (€5.16 billion) in a deal supported by TNT's boards.

UPS's cash offer of €9.5 ($12.51) per share for TNT – Europe's second-largest express delivery company after DHL – comes a month after TNT management turned down a €9 per share offer.

UPS announced that the deal is a 54 percent premium to TNT's closing price before the first offer Feb. 17. TNT shares closed at €9.35 on Friday.

The acquisition would be the biggest ever for Atlanta-based UPS, which is the world's largest delivery company.

The two giant companies are a "strong business and cultural fit," and TNT will improve UPS's reach in Europe and other markets where TNT has operations, in Latin America and Asia, UPS Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn said on a conference call.

“Expanding in Europe at a time it is suffering from slow economic growth or recession shows UPS's long-standing commitment to Europe," Kuehn said.

UPS said the deal will definitely add to its earnings in the first year, and by 2015 the companies will save at least €440 million annually by combining operations.

Kuehn avoided answering inquiries about potential sales of operations or job cuts at TNT.

TNT Express NV's largest shareholder, PostNL NV also said on Monday that it has agreed to tender its 29.9 percent stake in TNT to the UPS offer.

Posted by James Fried on Tuesday March 20 2012, 4:24 AM EDT. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Finance. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0