Czech tycoon nears historic Royal Mail purchase after new promises to UK government
A mega-deal worth £3.6bn could put Royal Mail in foreign hands for first time in five centuries. **Daniel Křetínský** adds new promises about stamp prices and postal upgrades to win approval
In a ground-breaking development Daniel Křetínský‚ the czech business-man is close to buying Royal Mail for £3.6bn‚ after making fresh promises to the UK government (which wanted more guarantees about postal services future)
The deal - which might be done by mid-december - needs extra steps from Křetínskýs EP Group to satisfy ministers concerns: they want caps on stamp prices and big-time investment in postal buildings that are getting old
The sale would mark a huge change for the 500-year old service; its gonna be the first time one private owner - and a foreign one at that - takes control. Křetínský (known as czech sphinx) already promised to:
- Keep the one-price-anywhere service
- Continue saturday first-class deliveries
- Keep main office in UK for 5+ years
- Avoid forced job cuts till 2025
International Distribution Services board likes the £3.6bn offer; shareholders will probably say yes but the government still needs to check if its ok for national security
Royal Mail which split from Post Office about 10 years ago has some problems: people send half as many letters as they did in 2011‚ and lots of folks complain about slow mail. But theres good news too - online shopping means more parcels to deliver which makes more money
