Royal Mail takeover by Czech billionaire accredited by shareholders | EUROtoday

The sale of Royal Mail’s guardian firm to a Czech billionaire has been cleared by shareholders.

The approval of the £3.6bn deal, first proposed a 12 months in the past, will see the 500-year establishment taken over by Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group.

Just over 80% of the shareholders of International Distribution Services (IDS), Royal Mail’s proprietor, voted in favour of the takeover on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Kretinksy stated he’ll put “employees and customers at the heart of everything IDS does”.

Under the phrases of the deal, the EP Group should keep the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service Obligation (USO).

This obligation at the moment means it has to ship letters six days per week, Monday to Saturday, and parcels Monday to Friday.

The firm has dedicated to sustaining the USO for so long as it owns Royal Mail. Last 12 months, Mr Kretinsky informed the BBC he would honour the service – in no matter kind it takes – “for as long as I am alive”.

Keith Williams, chair of IDS, stated Mr Kretinksy’s commitments within the deal “provide our customers, colleagues, and broader stakeholders with safeguards for the provision of the USO”.

A assessment of the USO closed earlier this month, with Royal Mail suggesting to the regulator Ofcom that decreasing second class deliveries to each different weekday would save as much as £300m a 12 months and provides the enterprise “a fighting chance”.

However, the Greeting Card Association stated on Wednesday it was “deeply concerned” in regards to the Royal Mail’s proposal.

“If proposed changes to the USO are implemented later this year, the small businesses we represent will be left increasingly reliant on an uncapped, unregulated first-class postal service that will put significant pressure on them, and the consumers they serve,” the group stated.