The European Commission has ordered an ‘in-depth investigation’ into the takeover of Dutch express delivery group TNT Express by US peer UPS.

In a statement, the Commission said its preliminary investigation showed there are ‘potential competition concerns in the markets … in particular for international express services, in numerous member states where the parties would have very high combined market shares’.
The Commission points out there are only four companies which ‘control a comprehensive air and road small package delivery network throughout Europe and beyond and are capable of offering the broadest portfolio of such services’.
As well as TNT Express and UPS, these are Deutsche Post’s DHL and US firm Fedex, the statement said.
Competition
The investigation will be completed by November 28.
According to the Financieele Dagblad last week, both companies had regarded European approval as a formality.
However, competitors and analysts had expected a longer investigation because of the dominant position the merged group will have in the Benelux countries, Germany and Britain, the paper said. Two members of the European parliament have also raised questions about the deal.
UPS agreed to pay €5.16bn or €9.50 a share for Dutch group TNT Express in March.