Dutch mail service sells Germany operations to investors. (picture alliance / ZB)
The Dutch mail service PostNL is putting an end to its operations in Germany after nearly two decades. Its subsidiary Postcon is being sold to the investment company Quantum Capital Partners, PostNL announced on Monday.
No details were provided on the price for the acquisition.
Postcon has its own delivery service in Germany's Rhineland and Ruhr areas. It also owns the PIN Mail postal service in the capital Berlin. The company has a total of 3,500 direct employees. It also delivers letters across Germany through partners.
The company is a direct competitor of the Deutsche Post mailing service, which is however significantly larger and controls a market share of 81 per cent.
But Postcon and other competitors managed to increase their mail volume from 2.6 billion to 2.8 billion in 2018, according to the Federal Network Agency, while Deutsche Post saw a decrease.
The overall market has been shrinking for a long time - instead of sending letters, increasingly more businesses and citizens are resorting to digital alternatives.
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