TNT shares rise on talk of breakup by UPS: traders

(Adds analyst comment, updates share price

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Shares in Dutch mail company TNT NV TNT.AS gained more than 4 percent on Tuesday and traders cited media reports saying U.S. rival UPS (UPS.N) and a private equity group want to buy and break up the company.

"There is speculation now that a private equity firm wants to buy the mail division and UPS the remainder," trader Rik Zwaneveld at AFS Brokers said.

TNT declined to comment.

Its stock has fluctuated wildly in recent weeks after media reports said U.S. competitor FedEx (FDX.N) was in talks to buy the company. The Wall Street Journal last week said the talks had ended. Neither company has commented on the reports.

TNT shares were 4.2 percent higher at 22.80 euros by 7:53 a.m. EDT, outperforming a 0.7 percent lower DJ Stoxx industrial goods and services index.

Analysts said the company is an attractive takeover target because of its express delivery operations in Europe and Asia.

"Strategically it would make a lot of sense for either FedEx or UPS to go after TNT's express division. Equally strategically, it would make sense for a private equity group to go after TNT's mail division," ING analyst Axel Funhoff said.

He said the key question was over financing and what price the parties were willing to pay. TNT holds a partial monopoly of the lucrative Dutch mail market.

Funhoff values TNT at 29 euros on a standalone basis.

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger, Joep Polderman and Foo Yun Chee in Amsterdam, Sitaraman Shankar in London; editing by Sue Thomas)