On March 19, 2012, United Parcel Service Inc. announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire TNT Express. To support this transaction, The Netherlands-based mail company PostNL N.V. has committed to tender its 29.8% share in TNT Express to UPS for a cash consideration of about €1.54 billion. We understand that PostNL's management plans to use a large part of the proceeds for net debt reduction, which, if it materialized, could lead us to reassess the company's financial risk profile. We are placing the 'BBB' long-term corporate credit rating on PostNL on CreditWatch with positive implications, reflecting potential for an upgrade of up to two notches. We plan to resolve the CreditWatch placement once the sale is completed and
