Deutsche Post in £3.7 Billion Exel Acquisition

Cleary Gottlieb is representing Deutsche Post in its £3.7 billion acquisition of Exel plc. The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year.

Deutsche Post will acquire Exel for a mix of cash and newly issued Deutsche Post shares, with shareholders having an option to accept Deutsche Post loan notes instead of cash, which provides tax advantages to certain shareholders. The acquisition will be accomplished as a so-called scheme of arrangement, and will require the approval of a majority of Exel shareholders representing 75% of the share capital. Following shareholder and court approval, the transaction will be binding on all Exel shareholders. The deal is also subject to clearance with the competition authorities.

Cleary represented the underwriters in Deutsche Post’s €6.5 billion IPO in 2000, and represented Deutsche Post and Deutsche Postbank in the latter’s €1.6 billion IPO in 2004.

Deutsche Post is part of the Deutsche Post World Net, one of the world’s leading logistics companies with 380,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide with 2004 revenues of €43 billion. Exel is a U.K. based provider of an integrated range of supply chain solutions with approximately 111,000 employees in more than 135 countries worldwide.