Sandd/PostNL gets Government of The Netherlands active support (translated)
12 SEP 2018
The government of The Netherlands would actively support a merger of Dutch postal companies PostNL[AMS:PNL] and Sandd, De Financieele Telegraaf reported.
The paper cited Mona Keijzer, state secretary at the ministry of Economic Affairs, who discussed the issue in parliament.
PostNL and Sandd are competitors, but their business is declining. The amount of letters being delivered has reduced by half in the last ten years, the report said, making current employment levels in PostNL and Sandd unsustainable.
Keijzer told the parliament that she is therefore in favour of consolidation. If the Dutch Competition Authority would decide to not give the green light to the merger, the state secretary emphasised that she has the power to overrule such a decision.
PostNL and Sandd have in the past held talks at the ministry of Economic Affairs about a possible merger. But they haven't come up with any concrete plan to merge yet, the item noted.
In 2017 PostNL recorded a turnover of EUR 3.5bn while Sandd had revenues of about EUR 195m.
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