Private Equity in The Picture

This Private Equity News article names some of the PE players that could potentially pick up TNT’s Post division, should the trade buyer decide to acquire only the Express division.

CVC would be a credible contender, imho, because of their industry and regional expertise.

Edit: Didn’t realise that link needed a subscription. Two alternate links for similar content:

Efinancial News

Port News

$15 Billion Offer for TNT in The Works?

While I was riveted by Olympic boxing and the events in the Caucuses, the The Sunday Telegraph broke the news of UPS’ talks with TNT about acquiring the Dutch based express and postal company.

Both companies’ shares rose slightly on the news.

<TNT rose 59 cents, or 2.4 percent, to 25.36 euros in Amsterdam on Aug. 8. The shares have dropped 10 percent this year, valuing the company at 9.34 billion euros. UPS added $2.44, or 3.9 percent, to $65.70 in Nw York. Its stock has dropped 7.1 percent in 2008, valuing the carrier at $67.3 billion.>

Source: Bloomberg

I have to admit, my money was on FedEX, not solely because of all of the seekingAlpha postings I’d been reading.

Deutsche Post to Give Back 1 Billion Euros to Shareholders

<The European Union’s second highest court Tuesday said Deutsche Post did not have to repay 572 million euros in state aid received by the German government, as ruled by the European Commission in 2002.

The EU Commission had ruled that Deutsche Post had used the money to subsidise its parcel operations instead of using it to provide the universal service it is obliged to offer to ensure mail is delivered to remote regions.

Adding interest, Deutsche Post can now claim back 1 billion euros.>

For the rest of the Forbes article, click here.

Appel Turns Down Alternatives

According to this Record Herald article, the CEO of Deutsche Post was willing to carry on further conversations on mitigating the impact but felt that there were no viable alternatives.

This phone meeting took place last week on Wednesday between Ohio’s Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher and Frank Appel.

UPS Hits Lowest Point Since April 2003

<UPS (nyse: UPS – news – people ), which blamed the continuation of high fuel prices and slumping domestic demand for the reduction, set a new 5-year low Tuesday. Rival FedEx Corp. (nyse: FDX – news – people ) recorded its lowest stock price in nearly two years Tuesday.

Both companies are considered prime indicators for the performance of the overall U.S. economy.

UPS fell 34 cents to $61.92 in afternoon trading, after hitting as low as $61.68 earlier. FedEx shares added 50 cents to $80.48.>

For the rest of the Forbes article, click here.

Deutsche Post Drops on UPS Profit Warning

Looks like everyone will be feeling the pain this earnings season.

And, althgough the restructuring is on course, it cannot have a material impact on the numbers (stock price not financials — which will take a hit in the beginning) for this round.

A Disk Containing Records of Nearly 1 Million Ambulance Calls Lost

The Telegraph article excerpt below:

<The information was supposed to be couriered by TNT from Scotland to Manchester two weeks ago, but never arrived at its destination and a search has failed to find it since.

The disk contained records of 894,629 calls to the Paisley Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre (EMDC), near Glasgow, spanning from February 2006.>

Although the tape has not been found, the Scottish Ambulance Service states that the disk was encrypted and password protected.

Naturally, these precautions have reduced the potential scale of the impact, particularly when compared to last years loss of personal details of 25 million UK residents. I write potentially because most commercial password and encryption countermeasures are obstacles to sophisticated cracking efforts and can, given enough resources and time, be overcome.

DHL Closing Offices in Wyoming and Montana

While Ohio has been getting plenty of attention, DHL offices will be closing in Wyoming and Montana.

Seven offices will be closing in Montana and two in Wyoming.

A company spokesman clarifies —

“These are not DHL offices, but they are offices operated by independent contractors of DHL,” said company spokesman Robert Mintz in Seattle. “We’re basically transferring contractors to USPS.”

Signs o’ the Times: FedEx Posts First Quarterly Loss in 11 Years

<The second-largest U.S. package-shipping company had a fourth-quarter loss of $241 million on a writedown for its Kinko’s unit, and predicted a “very difficult” environment in the coming year.>

UPS and Deutsche Post’s stocks both took a hit on the news since no one is expecting a rosier 3rd Quarter.

For the rest of the Bloomberg article, click here.

Without the $891 million charge for changing the name of Kinko’s to FedEx Office, the company’s earnings per share stand at $1.45, missing by a couple of cents per share the expected earnings of $1.47 per share.

Click here for the earnings report.

Rappin’ Fed Ex Driver (Sam de Jam)

Rappin’ FedEx Driver (SAM DE JAM)

Great story in the Evansville Courier Press about “Sam de Jam”, a FedEx driver who knows what it means to be customer focused.

“I want to be the best (driver) I can be,” he said. “Anything I can do to help people that’s what I’m going to do.”

Click here for rest of article.