PostNL rejects bpost’s final offer

PostNL, the Dutch post office, has rejected a final takeover offer from bpost, the Belgian post office organisation saying that it was not convinced that a transaction could be successfully realised or that a combination of the businesses would be successful.

The bid has been surrounded in political controversy in The Netherlands, particularly over the 40 per cent stake in PostNL that the Belgian state would hold, essentially bringing the Dutch postal market back to the times prior to its liberalisation.