Deutsche Post, Germany's post office, plans to become the market leader in distribution and logistic services after it goes public next month.
In a 500-page prospectus issued to potential shareholders yesterday, the company said it planned to continue strategic investment in its logistics, express mail and financial services divisions.
This was to reduce its dependency on the letter market, which was to be opened to competition from the end of 2002.
The German federal government will sell 2533 per cent of the post office at a price to be announced on Saturday.
Analysts predict a price per share of €18 to €23, giving the company a valuation of €21 billion to €26.5 billion (£16.54-£20.87 billion). "The goal of Deutsche Post is to become the world leader offering an integrated distribution and logistic services for all customer needs. We are ready for battle in the world market," said company spokesman, Mr Uwe Bensien.
The company has been on the acquisition trail recently, announcing last month that it would increase its 25 per cent stake in Brussels-based express delivery firm, DHL International, to 51 per cent at the beginning of 2001.
The company has also diversified into e-commerce, introducing a transport and secure-payment service for goods bought in Yahoo! Germany's online auctions using its savings bank subsidiary Postbank.
Sixty-five per cent of Deutsche Post's 244,000 employees have already signed up for company shares, with the remaining stock to be divided between institutional and private investors.
The flotation has been accompanied by a marketing blitz encouraging Germans to buy the company's "yellow" shares. The post office hopes to emulate the overwhelmingly successful flotation of its former sister company Deutsche Telekom in 1996, widely seen as the spark that ignited the German popular equity culture. But interest in shares has waned somewhat for private investors who suffered heavy losses following the recent slump of the Neuer Markt.
The prospectus warns potential investors of the risks involved in buying shares in the company, particularly of "important negative effects on the financial situation of the company".
Chief among these is an investigation by the EU competition authority into alleged anti-competitive practices.
The post office has been accused of using subsidies from its monopoly on certain classes of post to unfairly subsidise its parcel delivery service to drive private competitors out of business.
