A consortium comprising Advent International, FedEx, A&R Investments and Ppf Group obtained antitrust approval from the European Commission on 18 August to acquire InPost, the Polish group specialising in deliveries through automated parcel lockers. The transaction, valued at around €7.8 billion, remains subject to reaching the minimum shareholder acceptance threshold and approval from the Vietnam Competition Commission. The plan, announced on 9 February 2026, would give Advent and FedEx 37% each at completion, with A&R Investments holding 16% and Ppf 10%. The agreed price is €15.60 per share, representing a premium of 50-53% over the share price before the announcement. The bidder, the Iris Lux Bidco vehicle, launched a public takeover offer that opened on 26 May and was later extended to 18 September to await the outstanding antitrust approvals in Brussels and Hanoi.
The outcome of the offer depends on the level of shareholder acceptance: below 80%, the transaction will lapse, unless the consortium grants further extensions or waives the condition; between 80% and 95%, a corporate demerger and liquidation process will be launched to acquire the remaining shares; and above 95%, a compulsory acquisition mechanism for non-tendering minority shareholders, known as a squeeze-out, will be triggered. In any case, the expected final outcome is InPost’s delisting from Euronext Amsterdam. When the offer opened, 48% of the share capital was already covered by irrevocable undertakings to tender, while InPost’s Boards of Directors unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer.
Following clearance from the European Union, the only approval still outstanding is from the Vietnam Competition Commission, expected by 8 September despite InPost not operating in the country. The notification falls within the multi-jurisdictional requirements typical of large cross-border transactions. With Hanoi’s green light, expected before the 18 September deadline, the consortium would then have around ten days to consolidate shareholder acceptances before the offer closes.
InPost operates Europe’s largest delivery network based on automated parcel lockers and is active mainly in Poland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as in France, the United Kingdom and the Benelux region. Once the transaction is completed, the company is expected to keep its headquarters in Poland, its brand and the leadership of founder and chief executive Rafał Brzoska, who already holds a direct stake in the acquiring consortium through A&R Investments. Brzoska said the sale was driven by the opportunity to use the consortium’s expertise, financial stability and resources to accelerate InPost’s European expansion in a market supported by the growth of e-commerce and demand for more sustainable deliveries. For antitrust reasons, however, FedEx and InPost will continue to operate under commercial arrangements regulated with full mutual autonomy, without any immediate operational integration of their networks.
For Advent, this would mark a second stage in InPost’s corporate history: the private equity fund had already restructured the company years ago, when it oversaw its delisting from the Warsaw Stock Exchange before its later listing in Amsterdam. The timetable set out by the consortium envisages completion of the transaction between the end of September and the early months of autumn, in line with the schedule announced when the deal was unveiled in February.
Antonio Illariuzzi
