InPost Is Drawing Takeover Interest From Buyout Firms
InPost Is Drawing Takeover Interest From Buyout Firms
(Bloomberg) -- InPost SA, the Polish operator of self-service lockers for e-commerce, is attracting potential takeover interest from private equity firms after its share price plunged since going public over a year ago, people familiar with the matter said.
Several buyout firms such as CVC Capital Partners and Hellman & Friedman have studied the feasibility of deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified because deliberations are private. Considerations are preliminary and there’s no certainty anyone will pursue bids, the people said.
InPost is drawing interest after its shares lost about two-thirds of their value since the company’s Amsterdam initial public offering in January last year, valuing the company at 2.6 billion euros ($2.9 billion).
A deal would need the support of private equity firm Advent International, which still owns 46% of the business and is seen as key to any team-up or divestment, the people said. The company’s owners could see takeover approaches now as opportunistic, given the slump in the InPost share price contrasts with rising demand for e-commerce services, they said.
Spokespeople for InPost, Advent and Hellman & Friedman declined to comment, while a representative for CVC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
InPost allows its customers to arrange for the delivery and collection of parcels across a network of more than 16,000 self-service lockers throughout Poland.
Advent had been encouraged to list the company by the response to the earlier IPO of e-commerce platform Allegro.eu SA, whose merchants use InPost’s services. InPost listed in what was Europe’s biggest initial public offering since 2018.
InPost’s revenue for the third quarter of 2021 more than doubled to 1.3 billion Polish zloty ($298 million). Sales were boosted by the company’s acquisition of French parcel delivery platform Mondial Relay, as well as further expansion in Poland. InPost also noted the speed of growth at its operations in the U.K.
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