EANS-News: AUSTRIAN POST / AUSTRIAN POST AND SWISS POST INTEND TO BUNDLE THEIR INTERNATIONAL DIRECT MAIL ACTIVITIES

NEW POWERFUL PLAYER ON THE EUROPEAN MARKET

AUSTRIAN POST WITH A 65% STAKE IN THE JOINT VENTURE, SWISS POST 35%

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Joint Ventures/Cooperation/Collaboration

Subtitle: NEW POWERFUL PLAYER ON THE EUROPEAN MARKET
AUSTRIAN POST WITH A 65% STAKE IN THE JOINT VENTURE, SWISS POST 35%

Wien (euro adhoc) - Austrian Post and Swiss Post are planning to
bundle their international activities in the field of addressed
advertising mail within the framework of a joint venture. This was
contractually agreed by the two postal providers on October 15, 2010.

The Austrian Post company meiller direct GmbH headquartered in
Schwandorf, Germany as well as its subsidiaries will merge with the
business operations of Swiss Post Solutions in the business mail
business area based in Bamberg, Germany at the beginning of 2011.
Austrian Post will hold a 65% stake in the newly established company
with subsidiaries in the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, France and
Sweden, whereas 35% will be owned by Swiss Post. This fusion will
create a new and more powerful player on the European market.

The strategic focus of the new company will be the consulting,
conception and production of individualised, addressed advertising
mail, in particular the production of direct mails and envelopes as
well as letter shop activities. In the future, customers will be able
to take advantage of a comprehensive and international range of
services offered by a single provider on the basis of
state-of-the-art technologies.

The planned merger offers the national postal companies the
opportunity to put their highly productive business areas on a new
basis. Moreover, synergy potential along the entire value chain will
be exploited, and the two postal providers will press ahead with
structural changes caused by the recessionary year 2009 and the
decline in the mail order business.

All existing production facilities of the two companies in Germany,
Czech Republic, Poland and Russia will be maintained, with some sites
adapted to enable a greater specialization of the services offered.

"The founding of this new company, backed by two strong European
postal companies, will create a new and more powerful player on the
European Market", says Austrian Post CEO Georg Pölzl. "We are
extremely confident that this joint venture will enable us to achieve
a sustainably positive profit situation in the future". Swiss Post
CEO Jürg Bucher is also optimistic about the future perspectives of
the joint venture. "We now have the chance to operate even more
efficiently and to further improve services provided to our customers
with optimised technologies and processes".

The closing is expected at the end of 2010. The transaction is
subject to the approval of the responsible antitrust authorities. The
joint venture will be headed by Stephan Krauss, who served as CEO of
Prinovis until the end of 2008, and was most recently managing
director of PrinoTec. The top management will also include CFO
Bernhard Butz (previously CFO of Swiss Post Solutions Dialogue
Solutions in Germany), Dieter Simon (Sales) and Jürgen Kremser
(Technology).

The newly-founded company will be jointly managed by both parent
companies. For this reason, it will be consolidated at equity
starting with the anticipated closing of the transaction at the end
of the year.

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: Österreichische Post AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Austrian Post

Head of Investor Relations

DI Harald Hagenauer

Tel.: +43 57767-30400

harald.hagenauer@post.at

Austrian Post

Head of Group Communications

Mag. Ina Sabitzer

Tel.: +43 577 67-21763

ina.sabitzer@post.at

Swiss Post

Communications

+41 (0)58 338 13 07

presse@post.ch

Branche: Transport
ISIN: AT0000APOST4
WKN: A0JML5
Index: ATX Prime, ATX
Börsen: Wien / Regulated free trade