bpost receives green light from the Belgian Competition Authority to acquire the activities of Lagardère Travel Retail in Belgium
Thursday 10 November 2016Today, bpost announces an important step in the acquisition of the Belgian activities of Lagardère Travel Retail. The Belgian Competition Authority has approved the transaction subject to the fulfilment of a number of commitments.
The commitments are in line with bpost's ambitions for this project. They highlight that with bpost the press sector will have a sustainable and reliable partner who aims to maintain a good quality press distribution. They also, in a concrete manner, translate bpost's intent and commitment to further develop the Belgian activities of Lagardère Travel Retail.
These commitments primarily focus on maintaining a good quality press distribution, the return system and the shop subscriptions. bpost also undertakes not to privilege its own points of sale, whether during the selection of new postal points or on the level of quality of press distribution. Lastly, bpost will continue to offer the services of the Kariboo! parcel delivery network to other operators.
As communicated earlier, bpost's ambition is to support the Belgian written press sector, to invest in the sector of proximity and convenience by opening more points of sale and by diversifying the product and service offering to clients (commuters, passengers, online shoppers, readers,...) and to continue to enlarge its pick-up point network to offer its customers a wider range of services and parcel delivery options.
Further to the green light from the Belgian Competition Authority, we can now concentrate on finalising this transaction before the end of this year. bpost is convinced this project will be positive for the sector, clients and the employees.
For more information:
bpost contacts
Baudouin de Hepcée T. +32 2 276 22 28 (Press and Investors)
Barbara Van Speybroeck T. +32 476 51 79 29 (Press only)
Saskia Dheedene T. +32 2 276 76 43 (Investors only)