CVC Capital Parters ends ownership in bpost after eight year

[POSTMAN]

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Belgium’s postal service bpost has confirmed that its major private sector investor of the past eight years is selling most of its remaining stake in the business.

CVC Capital Partners originally bought a 50%-minus-one-share stake in bpost back in 2005 in a consortium with Post Danmark, before taking over its Danish partner’s stake in 2009.

CVC’s investment vehicle, Post Invest Europe Sarl, sold a 20.7% stake this summer in an IPO on the Brussels stock exchange, based on a EUR 14.50 per share price. It also sold shares via a Japanese public offering and to bpost employees, raising about EUR 815m in all.

This week, bpost confirmed that Post Invest Europe has informed it that it will now sell its remaining 19.7% stake in bpost, about 39m shares, through a private placement process.

At EUR 14.75 per share, the sale raises a further EUR 580m for CVC.

It means a stake originally purchased for about EUR 300m in 2005 has now been sold for about EUR 1.4bn.

The latest share sale maintains the Belgian government’s controlling 50%-plus-one-share stake in its universal postal service provider.

bpost achieved 3.1% year-on-year growth in its revenues in the first nine months of this year, despite a cut in state subsidies, with net profit up 39.7% year-on-year to EUR 44.9m. The growth came thanks to price increases, and improved parcel volumes, particularly in the second half of the year.

Earlier this month, the company revealed that its net profit after tax for the first 10 months of the year were EUR 200m, and that it will pay out a EUR 185m dividend to shareholders.

Further dividend payments, related to the last two months of the year, will be paid out subject to shareholders’ approval following the next AGM in May next year.


During CVC’s involvement in bpost, the company has grown from an annual turnover of EUR 2.12bn, and an EBIT of EUR 81.7m in 2005, to a turnover of EUR 2.41m and a EBIT of EUR 404m in 2012.

The company’s work force has been cut from 36,000 to 26,625 in that time