LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), April 9 (SeeNews) – State-owned Posta Slovenije will sign an agreement to acquire 72% of the share capital of blue-chip logistics group Intereuropa [LJE:IEKG] for 105 million euro ($118.4 million) by the end of this week, according to Slovenian media reports.
The Slovenian postal services operator has placed a higher bid than the other potential buyer of Intereuropa, UK-based freight forwarder Xpediator, and its offer was preferred by sellers SID Banka, Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), Gorenjska Banka, SKB Group and Intesa Sanpaolo, news daily Vecer reported on Monday.
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Posta Slovenije has committed to assume a 70 million euro debt of Intereuropa and expects to close the transaction in the coming months, Vecer said.
The acquisition of Intereuropa is in line with the business plan of Posta Slovenije, which faces a decline of the classical postal business, and expects to increase its revenue via the purchase of Intereuropa. In 2017, Intereuropa generated revenue of 105 million euro, and by 2022 the revenue is expected to exceed 210 million euro, the daily added.
Intereuropa recorded the biggest gains among the blue-chip companies on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) on Monday as its shares closed at 2.5 euro, up 1.63%.
As at 12:09 CET on Tuesday, Intereuropa shares traded 2.4% higher at 2.56 euro on the LJSE.
($ = 0.886764 euro)