The private equity firm Advent International is spearheading a multibillion-euro takeover bid for InPost, the owner of British parcel delivery firm Yodel.
Sky News has learnt that Advent, which is a minority investor in InPost after taking it public in Amsterdam in 2021, is part of a consortium looking to acquire the company.
Banking sources speculated on Tuesday that other major shareholders in InPost might also be involved in the consortium.
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Any offer would be likely to value the company at in excess of €6bn (£5.2bn).
Headquartered in Poland, InPost is among the world’s biggest delivery and e-commerce logistics companies.
In its most recent fiscal quarter, it delivered more than 350 million parcels across the markets in which it operates, including Britain.
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In a statement to the Euronext Amsterdam exchange on Tuesday, InPost said: “In view of the recent share price and trading volume development, InPost S.A. announces that it has received an indicative proposal regarding a potential acquisition of all shares in the company.
“A special committee has been formed of supervisory and management board members of the company that will carefully consider all aspects of a potential transaction, ensuring that the interests of the company and all of its stakeholders are taken into account in the decision-making with respect to a potential transaction.
“At this time, there can be no assurance that this will lead to a transaction.”
Shares in InPost were up about 20% on the back of the statement, giving the company a market capitalisation of €5.8bn.
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Even with that surge, its stock has fallen by close to a fifth over the last year.
Advent originally invested in InPost in 2017, later selling part of its stake to PPF, a Czech investment firm.
Analysts speculated that PPF was also likely to be involved in any formal takeover bid.
Advent and InPost declined to comment.
