The owner of the financially troubled Royal Mail in Britain announced on Wednesday that it has approved an o3.6 billion ($4.6 billion) acquisition offer from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
It follows the formalization of an enhanced offer for International Distribution Services (IDS) by Kretinsky’s conglomerate EP Group.
“The IDS board believes that the offer from EP is fair and reasonable,” IDS chairman Keith Williams said in a statement posted on the London Stock Exchange.
As of right now, EP owns a 27.6% part in IDS; nevertheless, shareholder and regulatory approvals are still pending.
The government must also approve the transaction for the erstwhile state monopoly Royal Mail. The government is scheduled to change hands in a general election that is scheduled for July 4.
According to numerous polls, the main opposition Labour party—led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak—will unseat the Conservatives after 14 years in power.
After taking office three years earlier, his party privatized Royal Mail in 2013.
Since then, as more and more people communicate online, the postal operator has experienced a devastating impact on its core letters business; nevertheless, this has positively impacted its international packages company, GLS.
Royal Mail might save hundreds of millions of pounds if it were to reduce delivery to five or even three days a week, according to a proposal made by the British communications regulator Ofcom.
IDS has consistently advocated for reforms to the universal service obligation (USO), which mandates that Royal Mail provide letter delivery to all 32 million UK addresses six days a week for the cost of a stamp.
