FedEx agreed to buy Dutch parcel-delivery company TNT Express for 4.4 billion euros ($US4.8 billion), predicting it can succeed where bigger rival United Parcel Service was blocked by regulators in 2013.
TNT, originally Thomas Nationwide Transport, was founded in Sydney by Ken Thomas in 1946. The company merged with Hungarian refugee Peter Abeles’ transport company, Alltrans Group, in 1967. Alltrans was famously started with Sir Peter’s two trucks dubbed Samson and Delilah.
Though the merged company scrapped the Alltrans name, Sir Peter was a significant driver in TNT’s huge expansion with his motto: Anything, anywhere, any time
. The company began to expand internationally with the purchase of a California truck line in 1969.
Key to the company’s expansion was Sir Peter’s close relationship with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, which was developed when the pair took joint control over Ansett in 1979, with TNT winning the contract to distribute Murdoch’s British newspapers.
TNT was eventually taken over by Koninklijke PTT Neder-land for $2 billion in 1996 in one of the largest mergers in Dutch history — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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