LONDON â€" United Parcel Service has appealed a recent decision by European antitrust authorities that blocked its $6.7 billion takeover bid for the Dutch shipping company TNT Express.
U.P.S. withdrew its offer for TNT in January after European authorities indicated they would block the deal because of antitrust concerns.
The ruling was a set back for U.P.S., which had planned to use the TNT Express operations across Europe to beef up its presence outside of the United States.
U.P.S., which is based in Atlanta, lodged its appeal against the European Commission’s decision last week, though the legal proceedings do not represent a renewed effort to buy TNT Express.
Instead, U.P.S. wants to ensure that any future international acquisitions are not blocked because of European authorities’ decision to prevent the deal for TNT Express due to competition fears, according to a U.P.S. spokesman.
While there are no plans in the short term to pursue a new deal with TNT Express, U.P.S. may revisit its plans depending on the outcome of its appeal against the European Commission’s recent decision and on market conditions, the spokesman added.
As part of its ruling against the proposed $6.7 billion takeover, European antitrust regulators said the deal would reduce the number of Continent-wide companies in the local small package shipping industry.
They ruled that only four companies - U.P.S., TNT, DHL and FedEx â€" had sufficient size across the Continent to offer competition, and that the combination of U.P.S. and TNT Express would limit consumers’ choice.
U.P.S. and TNT Express disagreed with that ruling, saying that several other smaller European shipping companies offered enough competition to satisfy antitrust concerns.
Judges are likely to take up to 18 months to rule on the appeal, which is the latest effort by companies to fight competition decisions from the European Union that have scuppered several recent deals.
Last year, Deutsche Börse appealed the decision by European authorities to block its proposed $9 billion merger with NYSE Euronext.
In a brief statement on Monday, TNT Express said it had taken note of U.P.S.’s decision, though the Dutch company plans to remain independent.
TNT Express’s share price tumbled almost 50 percent after U.P.S. withdrew its takeover offer in January, as investors fretted about the company’s future growth prospects. In morning trading in Amsterdam on Monday, the company’s stock price had risen less than 1 percent.
Last month, TNT Express agreed to sell its Chinese trucking business to a local private equity firm for an undisclosed fee, as part of its efforts to focus on a small number of core markets.
