PostNL critical of TNT's board nominations -source

AMSTERDAM Feb 6 (Reuters) - PostNL, the biggest shareholder in Dutch delivery firm TNT Express , is highly critical of the two candidates TNT has proposed for its supervisory board because they lack sector knowledge, a source familiar with Post NL said.

TNT, under pressure from investors over its performance, said on Monday it plans to expand its supervisory board and proposed two new members - Marcel Smits, chief executive of Sara Lee and Sjoerd van Keulen, director of the Holland Financial Centre, a financial sector foundation.

However, TNT rejected the names proposed by U.S.-based Jana Partners which in December had requested a board overhaul and the sale of the struggling freight and delivery firm.

TNT said that Jana Partners' proposed candidates did not meet the requirements of independence as laid down in the company's legal and governance rules relating to the composition of the supervisory board.

Dutch mail group PostNL, which owns 29.9 percent of TNT, said in January it backed the current TNT board. But at the time, sources familiar with PostNL said it was sympathetic to Jana Partners' requests.

A PostNL source told Reuters on Monday that TNT has missed an opportunity to enter into a "genuine dialogue" with its shareholders and that the board's proposals represent more of the "Dutch old boys' network." (Reporting By Roberta B. Cowan; Editing by Sara Webb)