(dpa) - Nordic neighbours Sweden and Denmark Tuesday said they would merge their postal services.
The deal would combine the two postal services that together have 50,000 employees and annual sales of some 45 billion kronor (4,8 Milliarden Euro).
The Swedish state and employees of the Swedish postal services were to own 60 per cent of the merged company while the remaining 40 per cent would be owned by the Danish state, employees of Post Danmark and CVC Capital Partners.
New head of the merged company would be Erik Olsson, current chief executive of the Swedish postal services Posten while board chairman would be Fritz H Schur, who holds that position at Post Danmark.
Schur said in a statement the merged company would be able to offer corporate customers "larger capacity to accommodate increased requirements on communication and logistic solutions."
Olsson cited "rapid change" as well as increased international competition "when postal markets are deregulated and electronic communication challenges traditional mail operations" as factors.
The planned merger was slated to be completed at the end of this according to a letter of intent signed by the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, the Danish Ministry of Transport and CVC Capital Partners.
The two postal services were slated to keep their respective domestic brand names.