Post by Madhatter on Mar 22, 2012 21:06:39 GMT
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) agreed to buy TNT Express NV (TNTE) with a sweetened bid of 5.16 billion euros ($6.8 billion), the biggest purchase in the U.S. company’s 105- year history, to challenge Deutsche Post AG (DPW) in Europe.
TNT accepted an offer of 9.5 euros a share in cash, the companies said in a joint statement today. That’s 5.6 percent more than the 9-euro bid turned down last month by Hoofddorp, Netherlands-based TNT and 54 percent more than the closing price on Feb. 16, the day before the talks were made public.
UPS, already the world’s largest package-delivery company, will double in size in Europe and vault to equal footing there with Deutsche Post (DPW)’s DHL, the market-share leader. The tie-up with money-losing TNT will immediately add to earnings on an adjusted basis once the deal is done, Atlanta-based UPS said.
“To buy something at the bottom of the market like this at an attractive price like this is great,” said Art Hatfield, a Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst in Memphis, Tennessee. “The market always wants to focus on the next quarter, but corporations think in terms of what this means for the next 30 to 40 years, and this is a tremendous deal for UPS.”
UPS gained 3.4 percent to $81.11 at 4 p.m. in New York, the biggest advance since Nov. 30. Hatfield is among 18 analysts recommending buying UPS, compared with eight who urge holding the shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. TNT rose 1.1 percent to 9.44 euros in Amsterdam.
‘Confident’ of Approval
UPS is “confident” the deal will receive regulatory approval by the end of the third quarter, Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn said, adding that it’s too early to say what divestitures may be needed to satisfy concerns.
www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-18/ups-said-to-reach-deal-to-buy-tnt-express#p1
TNT accepted an offer of 9.5 euros a share in cash, the companies said in a joint statement today. That’s 5.6 percent more than the 9-euro bid turned down last month by Hoofddorp, Netherlands-based TNT and 54 percent more than the closing price on Feb. 16, the day before the talks were made public.
UPS, already the world’s largest package-delivery company, will double in size in Europe and vault to equal footing there with Deutsche Post (DPW)’s DHL, the market-share leader. The tie-up with money-losing TNT will immediately add to earnings on an adjusted basis once the deal is done, Atlanta-based UPS said.
“To buy something at the bottom of the market like this at an attractive price like this is great,” said Art Hatfield, a Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst in Memphis, Tennessee. “The market always wants to focus on the next quarter, but corporations think in terms of what this means for the next 30 to 40 years, and this is a tremendous deal for UPS.”
UPS gained 3.4 percent to $81.11 at 4 p.m. in New York, the biggest advance since Nov. 30. Hatfield is among 18 analysts recommending buying UPS, compared with eight who urge holding the shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. TNT rose 1.1 percent to 9.44 euros in Amsterdam.
‘Confident’ of Approval
UPS is “confident” the deal will receive regulatory approval by the end of the third quarter, Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn said, adding that it’s too early to say what divestitures may be needed to satisfy concerns.
www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-18/ups-said-to-reach-deal-to-buy-tnt-express#p1
