Red Baron

According to Reuters, UPS and a private equity firm are trying to buy TNT. This is going to get very interesting!

Red

Diesel 10

TNT shares rise on talk of breakup by UPS: traders
Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:25pm BST

(Adds analyst comment, updates share price

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Shares in Dutch mail company TNT NV (TNT.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) gained more than 4 percent on Tuesday and traders cited media reports saying U.S. rival UPS (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and a private equity group want to buy and break up the company.

"There is speculation now that a private equity firm wants to buy the mail division and UPS the remainder," trader Rik Zwaneveld at AFS Brokers said.

TNT declined to comment.

Its stock has fluctuated wildly in recent weeks after media reports said U.S. competitor FedEx (FDX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was in talks to buy the company. The Wall Street Journal last week said the talks had ended. Neither company has commented on the reports.

TNT shares were 4.2 percent higher at 22.80 euros by 7:53 a.m. EDT, outperforming a 0.7 percent lower DJ Stoxx industrial goods and services index.

Analysts said the company is an attractive takeover target because of its express delivery operations in Europe and Asia.

"Strategically it would make a lot of sense for either FedEx or UPS to go after TNT's express division. Equally strategically, it would make sense for a private equity group to go after TNT's mail division," ING analyst Axel Funhoff said.

He said the key question was over financing and what price the parties were willing to pay. TNT holds a partial monopoly of the lucrative Dutch mail market.

TheBaron

TNT shares rise on talk of breakup by UPS: traders
Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:25pm BST

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Shares in Dutch mail company TNT NV (TNT.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) gained more than 4 percent on Tuesday and traders cited media reports saying U.S. rival UPS (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and a private equity group want to buy and break up the company.

"There is speculation now that a private equity firm wants to buy the mail division and UPS the remainder," trader Rik Zwaneveld at AFS Brokers said.

TNT declined to comment.

Its stock has fluctuated wildly in recent weeks after media reports said U.S. competitor FedEx (FDX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was in talks to buy the company. The Wall Street Journal last week said the talks had ended. Neither company has commented on the reports.

TNT shares were 4.2 percent higher at 22.80 euros by 7:53 a.m. EDT, outperforming a 0.7 percent lower DJ Stoxx industrial goods and services index.

Analysts said the company is an attractive takeover target because of its express delivery operations in Europe and Asia.

"Strategically it would make a lot of sense for either FedEx or UPS to go after TNT's express division. Equally strategically, it would make sense for a private equity group to go after TNT's mail division," ING analyst Axel Funhoff said.

He said the key question was over financing and what price the parties were willing to pay. TNT holds a partial monopoly of the lucrative Dutch mail market.

Funhoff values TNT at 29 euros on a standalone basis.

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger, Joep Polderman and Foo Yun Chee in Amsterdam, Sitaraman Shankar in London; editing by Sue Thomas)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved.

Precontact

I think our new CEO is very crafty...I remember reading an article when he took over stating how he was going to raise the company's debt levels to pursue strategic acquisitions, etc.

UPS says it plans big increase in debt level

Wed Jan 9, 2008 4:29pm EST

United Parcel Service said on Wednesday it plans to significantly increase its debt as part of revamping its capital structure.

The package delivery company said it had raised the target debt ratio for its balance sheet to a range of between 50 percent to 60 percent. That ratio, the company said, represents the relationship between funds from operations and total debt. Previously, UPS said, the company had no stated metric but it acknowledged that the new level was "higher" than it had historically run.

UPS, based in Atlanta, Georgia, said the change would allow it to make increased investments in the business, pursue acquisitions and undertake larger share repurchases. (Reporting by James B. Kelleher)

⌐ AV8OR WANNABE

I read somewhere that TNT's mail division is the only part of TNT losing money. Maybe breaking up the company and selling off the post side of TNT, which supposedly is what UPS is attempting, does make some sense?

Charlie Murphy

Can someone please explain to me, a domestic guy, who TNT is and why I, for the last 3 years, have seen rumors of either us or FedEx buying them.

brownie

TNT and DHL are like fedex and ups in europe. TNT is the second largest logestic and mail company in europe next to dhl, However thier mail system is not as strong as dhl but thier logestics are much better and that is why ups is only interested on the logestic side. They have planes, trucks and all the jingles of a transportation company. This is just a brief summary and you'll get much more details on tnt.com or just google it.

SaltyDog

Guess I need to come sit Hot with ya again <bg>

Charlie Murphy

Thanks. I couldn't figure out why we were wanting to get into business with Ted Turner. I thought maybe our new advertising slogan was going to be "UPS, We Know Drama."

Charlie Murphy

Yes, since we've lived to fight another day!!