“The size of the market, the large number of Austrian companies and especially the liberalization of postal services as of 2013 (when the Romanian postal company loses its monopoly on mail under 50 grams) have been the elements we considered when we decided to enter the local market,” said Andreas Dragosits, manager of the mail division of the Austrian Post.
The Austrian government holds 51% of the postal company, while the rest is owned by investors on the Vienna Stock Exchange.
PostMaster was founded in 2007 by three Romanians, Radu Potolea, Mihai Preotescu and Mihai Balaj, and reached EUR6.7 million in turnover last year. It distributes flyers and other mail to mailboxes.
This transaction, whose value was not made public, marks the entry of a major rival to the Romanian postal company, as well as to the French postal company, which two years ago bought 60% in Inbox Marketing, a local company that distributed flyers to mailboxes.
Whereas in 2008 local courier firms were targeted on the mergers and acquisitions market, now it is the turn of postal services providers, especially since the Romanian postal company, with EUR328 million in turnover last year, will as of 2013 lose monopoly over mail under 50 grams. In other words, the true stake of transactions concluded on this niche is the development opportunity arising in the wake of the liberalization of the postal services market.
Austrian Post operates on 11 markets, with nearly 30% of the company’s total revenue generated on foreign markets. Austrian Post operates both on the mail services segment and on the segment of parcels and logistics services.
Last year, the Austrian Post reported an EBITDA of EUR262 million. This compares with the losses of some 300 million lei (EUR70 milion) accumulated over the last two years by the Romanian postal company.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)