Global giant bids £243m for parcel company

POSTAL giant Deutsche Post DHL has had a £242.7m bid for UK Mail Group accepted by the Coventry company’s board.
The sale will need the approval of shareholders holding at least 75% of the company and Deutsche Post DHL has already secured the support of shareholders who own 60% of the company.
UK Mail has a national network of more than 50 sites and 2,400 vehicles and in the year to March generated revenues of £481m.

Peter Kane, chairman of UK Mail, said the company “will benefit significantly” from the deal despite the progress it has made in recent years.
He said: “Our customers will have direct access to Deutsche Post DHL’s integrated global parcel network and comprehensive logistics capabilities; we will have opportunities to win additional business from Deutsche Post DHL’s existing customer base; and there will be significant synergies including additional volumes flowing through our network from Deutsche Post DHL’s global operations.
“Furthermore, the offer provides UK Mail shareholders with the opportunity to realise their investment for cash at a significant premium to the levels at which the share price has traded in recent months.”
The bid is priced at 440p per share, which is a 43.1% premium on last night’s closing price. UK Mail’s shares did trade above that price for most of the two-year period to August 2015 – peaking above 700p – but have struggled in the last year.
Last November its chief executive Guy Buswell stepped down by mutual agreement just days after the firm revealed that the enforced relocation from Birmingham to Coventry had a severe impact on the business.
The company was forced to sell-up and move from its former hub in Bromford due to the building lying in the path of the HS2 high-speed rail route.
Jürgen Gerdes, board member of Deutsche Post DHL, described UK Mail as a “a complementary fit”.
He added: “With this acquisition, we will further extend our network and have a strong foothold in Europe’s three largest e-commerce markets, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, which account for over 60 per cent. of online retail in the continent.”

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