According to the newspaper's sources, investment bank DNB Carnegie has been tasked with leading the sale and finding a buyer. The work is expected to gain momentum once the holiday period is over.
Strålfors, which is 100 percent owned by Postnord, focuses on customer communication and document management with a customer list including companies such as Nordea, Telia and Scandic.
Critical Voices Following Authority Decision
The background to the sales plans is the debate that gained momentum in connection with the Swedish Competition Authority's decision at the end of May 2025. The authority then chose to approve Postnord Strålfors' acquisition of 21 Grams. The decision was immediately met with resistance. In a joint press release, the industry organizations Grafiska Företagen and Fria Postoperatörers Förbund questioned the authority's actions.
According to the organizations, 21 Grams is a hub in the postal market through its services for postage optimization. The services make it cheaper for customers to choose other distributors, which, according to industry representatives, leads to Postnord losing revenue in the order of billions of kronor annually.
Eva Glückman, CEO of Grafiska Företagen, questioned that the Competition Authority relied on commitments from Postnord that the industry had previously dismissed. They pointed out that the latest commitment was not even sent out to be tested on the market.
A completely incomprehensible decision with negative consequences for competition in the market. Summon the Director-General to the Committee on Enterprise and appoint a rescue investigation, said Eva Glückman in the press release.
Eva Glückman, among others, demanded that the government promptly appoint an investigation that results in a sale of the subsidiary.
Industry Pressure on Politics
The demands for a sale, however, have been building up for a longer time. The same industry organizations have continuously driven the issue and previously expressed their strong dissatisfaction in a debate article in Dagens Industri. There, demands were made that the government must act, with the argument that the state should not run printing operations in an otherwise competitive market.
Earlier this year, Grafiska Företagen and the printing company Åtta45 also took the matter to the Ministry of Enterprise, according to the newspaper Sign & Print. During a meeting with State Secretary Lars Hjälmered, concerns were raised about how Postnord's position creates lock-in effects.
A concrete example raised was special discounts that lower postage costs for Strålfors customers, something that private actors say they have difficulty matching.
Previous Warnings from Competitors
Voices have also been raised from other parts of the postal delivery sector.
Citymail's CEO Niklas Hydén has been critical of the acquisition of 21 Grams, and recently pointed out that Postnord already controls over 85 percent of the revenue in the Swedish letter market.
According to him, the bill for this type of deal ultimately risks falling on consumers through higher postage prices. He also questioned the logic of a state-owned company expanding through acquisitions while seeking financial support.
Now, however, reports indicate that Postnord is choosing a new path by preparing a sale of the entire Strålfors business.