National post and parcel delivery provider Belgium Post (bpost) has completed the acquisition of 100% of shares in the Belgian subsidiary of retail operator Lagardère Travel Retail. The Belgian Competition Authority granted approval for the deal earlier in the year.
bpost now plans to expand the activities of Lagardère Travel Retail by opening new points of sale, renovating existing outlets, diversifying the product and service range for its customers, and enlarging the kariboo! pick-up point network to offer a wider range of parcel services and delivery options.
As part of the deal, bpost and Lagardère Travel Retail have signed a franchise agreement to operate and develop the international brands of Lagardère Travel Retail, including Relay, hubiz, Hello!, So! Coffee, and Hub convenience.
LS Distribution Benelux and Lagardère Services Travel Retail Benelux will change their name to Ubiway and Ubiway Retail respectively. The commercial entities such as AMP, the Press Shop/Relay network, the kariboo! pick-up points and the subsidiaries Alvadis and Burnonville, will continue to operate under their existing names.
For the year 2015 the two acquired companies generated consolidated sales of 431m (US$461m) and normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 14m (US$15m). The acquisition of both entities will be fully consolidated in bpost’s accounts as of December 1, 2016.
After a transitional period of a couple of months, these entities will come under the leadership of a new CEO, Nicolas Meire, who is currently mail director for the north region at bpost.
bpost has also announced that it has made an improved offer for the acquisition of PostNL of 0.376 (US$0.40) per share, totaling 167m (US$179m). The increased offer price now amounts to 3.201 (US$3.42) in cash plus the value of 0.1202 bpost shares per PostNL share, or the equivalent of approximately 5.75 (US$6.15) per PostNL share. bpost has also made four further amendments to the governance of the combination of the two companies, with several changes applying to the composition of the board resulting from the merger.
December 5, 2016