Swiss Post has signed an agreement with Pitney Bowes Limited and Pitney Bowes Ireland Limited concerning the purchase of their mailroom and document management business in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The purchase is expected to conclude in summer 2013 after all conditions to closing have been fulfilled. The Swiss Post Group unit Swiss Post Solutions supports business customers with postal services at the interface of the physical and the electronic realm. It operates in all major economic regions across more than 20 countries. Swiss Post Solutions specialises in document management related business process outsourcing. In this takeover, it is strengthening its international market presence, its core markets abroad being Germany, the UK and the USA.

Expanding the client list

With this purchase, Swiss Post Solutions is acquiring a blue-chip client list, particularly in financial services and in the public sector, as well as among technology companies, complementing the existing client portfolio in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The Swiss Post Group unit, which has been operating in the region since 2002, will become the largest specialist organisation in the marketplace for document management services in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. In addition, the new client list improves Swiss Post Solutions’ access to public institutions that want to outsource the handling of in-house mail, the digitisation and archiving of incoming business correspondence as well as printing output and dispatch of digitally prepared documents.

Strengthening core competences

Providing comprehensive document management related business process outsourcing services is one of Swiss Post Solutions’ core competences. Swiss Post provides its services worldwide to business customers in various industries. These customers aim to focus on their core business and prefer to outsource specific business processes in areas such as document processing or document output to a reliable partner. Both Swiss Post Solutions and Pitney Bowes were admitted to the «Global Outsourcing 100» ranking of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals IAOP in 2012 and 2013.

Exploiting synergies

All staff employed by Pitney Bowes Management Services across the UK and the Republic of Ireland will transfer to Swiss Post Solutions as part of the acquisition. In addition, a number of facilities including a secure mail-screening centre and a document processing and production centre will transition to Swiss Post Solutions, enhancing its service delivery capability.