German antitrust watchdog drops probe into DHL's corporate mail consolidation

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) -Germany's antitrust regulator has dropped an investigation into alleged anti-competitive conduct at the nation's largest postal services group DHL after the company cut ownership ties with a competitor in the handling of letters for companies.

The Federal Cartel Office's two-year probe focused on so-called mail consolidation, where DHL's Deutsche Post InHaus Services collects and processes letters from several companies, granting discounts on the aggregate volumes.

DHL competes with postal services group Max-Ventures in this market, but the two also held 26% and 74%, respectively, in another player in that market segment called Compador.

The antitrust authority said that DHL had allayed its concerns by selling its Compador stake to Max-Ventures and also by cancelling contracts to process orders for Max-Ventures that the two could now renegotiate without any ownership ties.

DHL said it welcomed the closure of the proceedings.

"We were always of the opinion that Deutsche Post AG and Deutsche Post InHaus Services had not violated competition law, and we see this confirmed," it added.

(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, writing by Ludwig Burger, editing by Thomas Seythal and Miranda Murray)