Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said he was happy with the Romanian Government’s “positive attitude” toward these prospective investments.
In August, Communications Minister Valerian Vreme said the ministry was in talks with the national postal operators in Belgium, Austria and Germany regarding the sale of stakes in Romania’s postal company Posta Romana.
“Posta Romana is a very good business, but it’s moving slowly at the moment, partly because of the lack of funds needed for investments. One of the options we’re considering is getting a strategic investor, to capitalize the company and take part in its management,” the minister said at the time.
The state would not cede control over the company, but would hold controlling interest in the event of an investor being found.
Belgium’s bpost provides postal, courier, direct marketing, banking, insurance and electronic services. It has more than 33,000 employees and processes over 3.9 billion of mail items each year.
In the first half of 2011, bpost posted turnover of EUR1.2 billion, slightly above the EUR1.17 billion registered in the first six months of 2010. During this interval, bpost’s profit remained flat at EUR141 million.
Posta Romana posted 1.4 billion lei (EUR325 million) in turnover last year. It is controlled by the Ministry of Communications (75%) and investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (25%).
(EUR1=RON4.3081)