UPS to buy Netherlands' TNT Express for $6.8 billion
<p>AP Photo/Bill Haber In a Jan. 25, 2007 file photo, Brandy Goggin polishes a UPS truck in New Orleans. United Parcel Service Inc. said Monday it has agreed to buy TNT Express NV for $6.77 billion.</p>
AMSTERDAM (AP) - United Parcel Service Inc. said Monday it will buy Netherlands-based TNT Express NV for $6.77 billion in a cash deal that will create a company with annual sales of 60 billion euros.
Atlanta-based UPS is the world's largest delivery company, while TNT, headquartered in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, is the second-biggest express mail company in Europe behind DHL, which is owned by Germany's Deutsche Post. The combination will have 475,000 employees worldwide and increase UPS's international sales to around 36 percent of its total from 26 percent at present.
"Why is TNT very attractive?" said UPS Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn at a press conference in Amsterdam. Because it has "operations in areas where we're underserved. Brazil. Australia. The Middle East. The road and train network in Europe."
He said UPS hopes to further boost its international sales to 50 percent in the next five years.
The agreed deal, UPS's largest ever acquisition, offers TNT shareholders 9.5 euros per share.