The European Commission approved Deutsche Post World Net's plans to form a joint venture with Dutch publishing group Wegener NV and to buy the firm's Interlanden distribution unit, the European Union said yesterday.
Deutsche Post's Utrecht-based subsidiary Selektvracht will merge its addressed mail delivery operations with Wegener's Interlanden division, a supplier for the delivery of unaddressed mail on the Dutch mail market, to form the joint venture.
The two firms will cooperate in sales and marketing, and Selektvracht will take a majority stake in Interlanden. In a statement, both said they aim to become a leading supplier for the delivery of addressed mail in the liberalized Dutch mail market.
Interlanden, with a staff of 450 and 24,000 carriers, had sales of 60 million euros last year compared with the 52 million euro revenue earned by Selektvracht, which had 6,200 carriers.
The firms said the arrangement was likely to create jobs as its addressed and unaddressed mail operations expanded.
