Eesti Post Buys Out Bulk Mail Company
State-owned postal service provider Eesti Post has bought the remaining shares of Estonian Electronic Mail, a printing, envelope-stuffing and bulk mail service provider, from Finland's Itella.
The smaller firm will become the printing solutions department under Eesti Post's logistic division and the two company's operations will be merged, Eesti Post said in a press release today.
Electronic Mail was founded in 1995 by Eesti Post and Itella. Before the current acquisition, Eesti Post owned 51 percent of the company's shares.
Cooperation between the companies was already very tight, said Eesti Post board member Mait Soosaru, but the integration should result in improved services. "For example, whereas earlier a customer had to order e-invoicing solutions from Estonian Post and printing services from Estonian Electronic Mail, now all services can be bought in one place,” he said.
In November 2011, the Competition Authority fined Estonian Post 36,000 euros for discriminating against Itella Information by offering it services at unfavorable terms compared those it offered to Electronic Mail.
Itella Information, owned by Itella, provides a similar service to that of Electronic Mail
Neither Itella nor Electronic Post provide letter carrier services and have to order them from one of the postal companies, of which Eesti Post is by far the largest and the only that operates nationwide.
Eesti Post Group is made up of parent company AS Eesti Post and subsidiaries Estonian E-Invoicing Center Ltd., UAB EP-24 and USAB Unipakas in Lithuania, and Post24 SIA in Latvia.