Dutch, Belgian Postal Services Hold Unsuccessful Merger Talks

BRUSSELS—Belgian postal service Bpost and Dutch rival PostNL on Sunday said they had been in merger talks but that negotiations ended without an agreement.

Bpost had made a friendly offer for all the shares of PostNL, but "these negotiations have, in the end, not led to agreement on the terms of such a transaction," the companies said in similar statements on their respective websites.

Trading in shares of both companies was halted on Friday, following Belgian media reports that Bpost had submitted the offer to acquire its Dutch competitor. Spokespeople for the companies on Friday had neither confirmed nor denied the talks and said only that they would issue a statement before the market opens on Monday.

The postal sector in Europe is suffering from declining mail volumes, though it is experiencing rapid growth in parcel delivery, as more customers shop for goods online. PostNL says it is the leading mail and parcels company in the Benelux—Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Both companies operate in countries across Europe, North America and Asia.

Bpost has a market capitalization of around 4.87 billion euros ($5.41 billion), nearly three times PostNL's market cap of around €1.7 billion.

The Belgian state owns about 51% of Bpost, which was first listed on the Brussels stock exchange in 2013. PostNL was privatized by the Dutch government in 1989, when it was known as PTT Post.

Bpost's revenue in 2015 slipped 2.3% to €2.4 billion, while PostNL's revenue came in flat at about €3.5 billion.

Write to Natalia Drozdiak at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2016 20:55 ET (00:55 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.