Dutch government sells part of stake in mail carrier TNT

Ongoing privatization former PTT

AMSTERDAM - The Netherlands’ government has cut in half its remaining stake of 20 percent in mail and logistics company TNT, the former PTT. As a minority shareholder, the state will keep its remaining shares until the postal market in the Netherlands is fully liberalized by the end of 2007.

The finance ministry sold 43.4 million shares to banking giants ABN AMRO of the Netherlands and U.S.-based Citigroup, raising about $1.1 billion.

Since April this year, TNT is the new corporate name of the company which retains its previous name - TPG - for one of its three main brands: TPG Post, the Dutch postal services. The other two units are TNT Express and TNT Logistics. The Dutch company employs over 160,000 people in 63 countries and serves over 200 countries. For 2004 the company reported sales of $12.6 billion.

Roots

In 1752, mail delivery privileges in the Netherlands were merged into a government-owned monopoly. In 1799, the postal services were reorganized into a single national enterprise, which later became known as PTT (Post, Telefoon en Telegraaf).

TNT was formed in Australia in 1946, as (Ken) Thomas Nationwide Transport. The privatization of the PTT officially was started in 1989, with the government selling the first block of shares in 1994, when the company became known as Koninklijke PTT Nederland (KPN). In 1996, it acquired TNT, and two years later, the TNT Post Group (TPG) separated from KPN, a leading provider of telecommunications.