Eesti Post Snaps Up Lithuania's Unipakas
National postal carrier Eesti Post announced on Monday that it has acquired one of Lithuania's largest package delivery companies, Unipakas UAB, as part of a grand plan to conquer the Baltic parcel market.
Eesti Post's announcement did not specify the purchase price.
Kaunas-based Unipakas, which operates under the name Unipak Express Parcels, has been in business since 2005 and, through partnership arrangements, offers parcel delivery services Europe-wide. Last year it opened a subsidiary in Latvia and its overall projected turnover for 2012 is 2 million euros, according to the Eesti Post statement.
In the statement titled "Estonian Post is aiming at conquering the Baltic parcel market," Eesti Post's council chairman Meelis Atonen said: "Eesti Post has to be a strong, sustainable, and growing company. In order to achieve that, it is necessary to move aggressively to the surrounding markets. To be successful in competing with the logistics and postal companies operating in the global market and to ensure profitability, we also need to expand."
Aavo Kärmas, chairman of the board at Eesti Post, said that the Baltic expansion was necessary because e-commerce clients see the Baltics as a single market and because a Baltic-wide network would create the "volume synergy" needed to mitigate costs.
Eesti Post said it plans to invest 12 million euros in developing services in the three Baltic countries in the coming years.
Steve Roman