November 28 (SeeNews) - Austrian postal service operator Oesterreichische Post said on Wednesday it plans acquisitions in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Bosnia within the next 15 months under its strategy of further expansion in the southeast European market.
Oesterreichische Post has free cash of 150 million euro ($220.9 million) which it plans to spend on acquisitions, including those in these four markets, the company's head of public relations Michael Homola told SeeNews.
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"These four markets are prime markets for us," Homola said and added that the company could also consider buys in the smaller countries in the region.
"We are looking for two kinds of companies - the ones in the parcel market and the other kind - in unaddressed advertising. These are the kind of companies we want to buy in these markets," Homola said.
Companies dealing with unaddressed advertising distribute advertisements to a large number of unnamed recipients.
The company spent 210 million euro on acquisitions in the first nine months of the year, he said.
The company last week announced its latest acquisition in the region - of the Serbian parcel delivery firm City Express which runs a fleet of 248 vehicles and operates 14 sites in Serbia and a branch in Serbia's neighbour Montenegro. It is also present in Croatia.
Oesterreichische Post (www.post.at) says it is Austria's leading service provider in carrying mail. The group, comprising over 20 companies operating in Western and Central Europe, was established in 1999 as a subsidiary of Post and Telekom Austria. It reported a 96.1 million euro net profit in the first nine months of 2007, up 35.9% year-on-year.
($ = 0.679 euro)