Deutsche Post May Not Bid for U.K. Royal Mail,

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Deutsche Post May Not Bid for U.K. Royal Mail, Chief Appel Says

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By Joseph Mapother and Steve Rothwell

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Post AG, Europe’s biggest mail carrier, has “no strategic necessity” to bid for a stake in Britain’s postal service, according to the German company’s chief executive officer.

“Mail is a declining business and no one knows how far it will go,” CEO Frank Appel said late yesterday at a briefing for reporters in Frankfurt.

The comments suggest that the Bonn-based company may not make an offer to invest in Royal Mail Group Plc, the U.K.’s 360- year-old postal service. TNT NV, Europe’s second-biggest express-delivery company, is considering acquiring a stake in Royal Mail Group, and private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd. may also be interested, according to reports by Welt am Sonntag and other newspapers.

The U.K. government is seeking to sell about a third of the national postal service as the Royal Mail struggles to adapt to competition from companies including TNT and Deutsche Post’s DHL Worldwide Express. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has said that only an outside company has the cash, experience and technology to help the Royal Mail with European Union rules that phase in competition for deliveries by 2013.

Even as Appel said the delivery business is deteriorating, the CEO said Deutsche Post may be past the worst in recession- driven declines in monthly volumes.

“With all due caution, March may be a little bit better” than the first two months of 2009, he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Joseph Mapother in Frankfurt at jmapother1@bloomberg.net; Steve Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 15, 2009 06:00 EDT