Belgium's bpost Interested in Buying Romanian Post

Romania's Ministry of Communications on Tuesday said it had accepted the non-binding offer from the Belgian postal operator bpost for a majority stake in state-owned Posta Romania (Romanian Post).

"We invite the bidder to continue its due diligence and to move on to the next stage by submitting a firm offer for the Posta Romania's majority stake," Communications Minister Sorin Grindeanu said.

Bpost was the only investor to make an offer for the 51 per cent stake in the company.

Romania started the privatization process of the postal service in December 2012. The state, which currently holds 75 per cent of the company's shares, plans to sell the majority stake. The Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea holds the rest of the shares.

To make the company attractive for investors, Posta Romana is cutting around 10 per cent of its workforce, to reduce costs. Some 3,600 people have left the company in the last couple of years.

The state-owned Posta Romana is the holder of the largest network of postal service distribution offices in Romania.

It has an annual turnover of over 270 million euro. It reported losses for the last six years before 2014.

The company operates over 5,600 postal offices around the country and has around 27,000 employees.