The Hague: US delivery service FedEx reached a deal yesterday to buy Dutch rival TNT Express for €4.4bn ($4.8bn), ramping up its European presence as global e-commerce proliferates.
The companies “reached conditional agreement on a recommended all-cash public offer of €8 per ordinary TNT Express share,” a joint statement said.
The offer represents a premium of 33 percent over the closing share price of April 2, 2015, and a premium of 42 percent over the average share price over the last three calendar months.
TNT’s share price jumped by around 30 percent in mid-morning trade on the Amsterdam stock exchange’s AEX index to €7.80 a share. Dutch mail service PostNL, which owns 14.7 percent of TNT Express, has agreed to the offer.
The surprise announcement comes two years after a failed attempt by FedEx’s US-based rival UPS to grab TNT Express for more than €5bn.AFP
