bpost announces its intention to launch an IPO

bpost announces its intention to launch an initial public offering and listing on NYSE Euronext in Brussels

Brussels bpost NV van publiek recht/SA de droit public ("bpost" or the "Company"), the leading postal operator in Belgium, today announces its intention to proceed with an initial public offering and listing of its ordinary shares on NYSE Euronext in Brussels (the "IPO").
The intended IPO will consist of the secondary sale of a portion of bpost's ordinary shares currently held by CVC Funds. The offering will comprise the sale of shares to institutional investors as well as to retail investors in Belgium, and to bpost's management and employees. CVC Funds will maintain a substantial stake in bpost following the IPO. The Belgian State will not sell shares as part of the offering and will maintain its current 50.01% stake.
J.P. Morgan, Nomura and BNP Paribas Fortis are the joint global coordinators for the IPO. J.P. Morgan, Nomura, Morgan Stanley and UBS are the joint international bookrunners. BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC and ING are the joint Belgian bookrunners. Royal Bank of Canada and Belfius are the joint lead managers. Petercam and Bank Degroof are the co-lead managers.
Subject to the approval of the prospectus by the FSMA and to market conditions, it is expected that the price range, as well as other details of the offering will be published in the Belgian financial press, when the offering period is expected to commence. The final offering price shall not exceed the higher end of the price range and is expected to be published in the Belgian financial press before trading starts on Euronext Brussels the next day on a "if-and-when delivered" basis.

Business highlights

• bpost has a focused and proven strategy for its core mail and parcels business which involves the introduction of new products and services that leverage its core capabilities and competitive strengths as well as initiatives designed to stimulate mail volumes. This is complemented by bpost's international, financial services and end-to-end solutions activities and initiatives which leverage bpost's core competencies, such as it "last mile" coverage.
• The Company operates primarily in the Belgian mail market, which is relatively resilient when compared with certain other European mail markets. Although volumes of addressed mail in Belgium have declined in recent years, the rate of decline has been lower and more stable than experienced in other countries.
• The Company has developed a systematic approach to identifying and realizing cost savings across the organization, also enabled by natural attrition. bpost is currently rolling out several further productivity enhancement initiatives.
• The Company has achieved a strong financial performance by fostering a culture of continuous improvement and introducing a series of productivity enhancement initiatives.
• The Company's strong financial performance over the past years has been accompanied by improved cash conversion. bpost also has a strong balance sheet, with relatively low levels of gross debt and volatile liabilities.
• The company's intention is to distribute an annual dividend of a minimum of 85% of its Belgian GAAP annual net profit on an unconsolidated basis.

Comment

Johnny Thijs, CEO of bpost, said: "The IPO of bpost is the culmination of over ten years of change and hard work. After we will have become a listed company we will continue to work towards achieving excellence in everything we do. This will benefit our customers, employees and shareholders."