Merger talks between Belgian and Dutch post services breaks down

Federal telecommunications minister Alexander De Croo is reported to be angry about the failure of Belgian post service Bpost to merge with its Dutch counterpart PostNL. Bpost this week confirmed that talks over a merger of the two companies had broken down, describing the result as “unfortunate, but not a drama”.

“We held talks, but we had to come to the conclusion that there was no agreement across the board,” said Bpost CEO Koen Van Gerven at the weekend. “We were a long way off from agreeing. Never say never, but this chapter has come to an end.”

Bpost had made an offer in cash and equity for the totality of PostNL shares, in a deal that would have reduced the share of the Belgian state in the merged company to less than 50% – something made possible by a recent change to legislation. Bpost was revealed to have made a first, second and third bid, the last of which was being examined by the Dutch when the talks concluded.

The Euronext stock exchange had suspended trading in both shares, and Bpost was preparing a statement for before the opening of the stock market on Monday. But by that time, it was too late: The Dutch had closed down negotiations.

It has been reported that the deal fell apart after Jean-Pascale Labille, minister for government enterprises in the last federal government, revealed that talks were taking place. Labille and his PS colleagues on the board of Bpost and in the unions representing postal workers were no doubt up to date on the state of negotiations, according to De Croo, who suggested to De Tijd that Labille’s statements about the postal service being privatised by the merger ended the talks definitively.

“There are laws and rules governing the dissemination of privileged information that apply to everyone,” De Croo told the paper. “Mr Labille released incorrect information with one single goal: to provoke a strike at Bpost. That was not successful.”

Van Gerven, too, blamed Labille. “I don’t know what was intended by his statement, but in important cases like these, a great deal of discretion is advised. His statements were completely out of place, which he knows.”

Labille responded that he had no problem with Bpost’s consolidation plans, only with its continued status as a government enterprise. De Croo should not, he said, “try to suggest that a single statement from me put an end to the deal, although my sentence was perhaps sensitive given his ideology.”

Photo courtesy Bpost