Netherlands-based TNT Express NV will close its Brazilian and Chinese operations and will let go of 4,000 employees over the next three years, according to a report in International Business Times. This news comes following the failure by competitor United Parcel Service, Inc. to win approval from European regulators for its $6.7 billion takeover bid of TNT.

Citing “challenging trading conditions and continuing price pressure,” TNT said the moves are aimed at generating $283.4 million in savings by 2015, according to the International Business Times report. The layoffs amount to about 6 percent of the company’s workforce.

"The business we have is the business we have, in terms of its geographic scope, and that's where we are going to focus, improve, and try to get the best possible margins," interim chief executive Bernard Bot told journalists in a conference call. "But, yes, we also have to accept that we are a cyclical stock and are to some extent dependent on the economic development."

UPS announced on Jan. 14 that it was scrapping its effort to buy the Dutch company, which has an air hub in Liege, Belgium, with a fleet of 52 aircraft, according to the report.