DHL CEO Tobias Meyer has firmly dismissed cartel allegations made against the Bonn-based company by a competitor.
Speaking at the company's annual general meeting in Bonn on Friday, Meyer said he considered the legal action taken by Deutsche Versand Services GmbH (DVS) against DHL to be unfounded, both in terms of content and substance. He also described criticism from DVS co-shareholder, investment firm 7Square Partners, as "fabricated and in no way accurate."
DVS and the investor have accused DHL subsidiary Deutsche Post of abusing its market power in the mail business. 7Square Partners, which also holds shares in DHL, had demanded immediate action in a letter to the management and supervisory boards. DVS alleges that the market leader in the field of Dialogpost advertising mail had, among other things, undercut minimum prices for shipments, thereby securing contracts from companies that would otherwise have gone to DVS. Dialogpost is targeted advertising mail sent directly to households.
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, edited by Sabine Wollrab. For inquiries, please contact our newsroom at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for business and markets).
