Czech billionaire Daniel Krzetinski has agreed to acquire International Distribution Services (IDS), which owns Royal Mail, for £5 .2 billion (USD 6.6 billion), reported the Financial Times (FT) newspaper.
EP Group, which is owned by Krzetinski, has agreed to buy IDS at a price of 370 pence ($3.2) per share. So the deal will cost the buyer 5.2 billion pounds, including IDS debt. At the same time, the Czech billionaire is already one of the largest shareholders of IDS, owning 27.5% of the company's shares.
IDS found itself in a difficult situation due to labor strikes and the need to provide letter delivery services at a fixed price. Under the terms of the deal, EP Group promised to maintain Royal Mail service levels and not change the location of its UK headquarters.
As the publication writes, in addition to Royal Mail, IDS also owns the fast-growing Dutch logistics company GLS. It was this business that helped IDS turn a profit in its last financial year (ended in March). However, IDS chairman Keith Williams said the company's management considered the offer received from EP Group to be "fair and reasonable".
In November 2023, UK postal regulator Ofcom announcedthat Royal Mail had been fined £5.6 million ($6.4 million) for late mail delivery. According to its data, in the past financial year the company delivered 73.7% of first-class mail and 90.7% of second-class mail on time. Royal Mail is required to deliver at least 93% of first class mail within one working day and at least 98.5% of second class mail within three working days.