March 17 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian courier delivery company Speedy [BUL:SPDY] said that it has begun absorbing wholly-owned subsidiaries Geopost Bulgaria and Rapido Express and Logistics after receiving clearance from the local financial markets regulator.
The shareholders of Speedy will retain their stakes without change, the parent company said in a bourse filing on Thursday.
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The absorption was given the green light by the Financial Supervision Commission on March 16, the regulator said on Thursday.
The merger of the two courier units will optimise administrative expenses, regulatory fees and financial reporting, Speedy explained.
Speedy also said that since it owns 100% of the capital of the merger targets, the transaction will not entail changes in its articles of association, the issuance of new shares, the exchange of shares or cash payments. The subsidiaries will cease to exist without liquidation procedures and Speedy as the legal successor will take over all their assets, rights, obligations and contractual relations.
Speedy acquired Rapido in 2018. In 2014, Speedy acquired French company Geopost's units DPD Romania and Geopost Bulgaria. As part of the deal, Geopost agreed to acquire 25% of Speedy, later exercising an option to increase its stake to just under 70% but failing to acquire the entire company in a 2021 buyout bid.
Earlier this month, Speedy said that its consolidated net profit increased to 36.2 million levs ($19.7 million/18.5 million euro) in 2022 from 32.4 million levs a year earlier.
Shares in Speedy closed flat at 112 levs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange on Thursday. The company has a market capitalisation of 602.3 million levs, bourse data showed.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)