The Danish and Swedish postal services plan to merge into a new company with 50,000 employees in a move to counter competition from foreign mail and delivery services.
The merged company will be headquartered in Stockholm and have an annual turnover of about 45 billion Swedish kronor.
"We do this to secure the postal services for our citizens in both Denmark and Sweden," Swedish Industry Minister Maud Olofsson told reporters in Stockholm, adding it would also help meet changing customer needs. Olsson said the merger was necessary as both postal services were facing increasing competition from foreign actors such as Deutsche Post, Finland's Itella and TNT of the Netherlands.

The governments and postal services of both countries — Posten Sverige AB in Sweden and Post Danmark A/S in Denmark already signed a letter of intent.
"I hope that a merger will be concluded in the course of 2008," Danish Transportation Minister Carina Christensen said. The Swedish state and the employees of Posten would own 60 percent of the new company, while the Danish state together with the employees of Post Danmark and CVC Capital Partners would own 40 percent.
Sweden's Posten is 100 percent state-owned while Post Danmark is 75 percent state-owned, with CVC holding 22 percent and employees 3 percent.
The goal is for the merged company to be listed on the stock exchanges in Stockholm and Copenhagen with three to five years, officials said.
The postal business in Sweden and Denmark would continue to operate as national entities using the same brands they use today. The name of the new parent company had not yet been decided.

Source: International Herald Tribune,

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/01/news/Denmark-Sweden-Postal-Service.php