An Post makes €85m on subsidiaries sale

An Post has sold PostTS UK and PostTS Spain - its two subsidiary companies in the international mobile telephone electronic top-up market - to Alphyra for €85m.

The two companies – originally eCommercell UK and Spain – were bought from the Caudwell Group for €8.5m in February 2002. Since then An Post invested a further €7.5m in the businesses which were returned to profit in 2004.

Derek Kickham, Commercial Director of An Post, said he was pleased with the deal. “Timing is important in these transactions. The price we achieved demonstrates very clearly that we moved at the right time. A new benchmark price has been set internationally for businesses in the E-TopUp sector.

“We put the two companies on the market last autumn, following a careful analysis of trends in the European payment processing industry. The consolidation taking place in the sector, driven by a number of large payment processors, created an opportunity for us to achieve a premium price in the sale of the businesses."

The sale of the international E-TopUp companies is part of An Post’s overall recovery strategy which included a specific provision for the disposal, at the appropriate time, of non-core subsidiaries.