Royal Mail owner agrees to £3.6bn takeover by ‘Czech Sphinx’ Daniel Kretinsky
The owners of Royal Mail have agreed to a £3.6bn takeover bid by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
The company’s parent firm International Distribution Services (IDS) said its board of directors had approved the deal after a formal offer was made earlier this month.
It said the agreement included a series of “contractual commitments” to protect public service aspects of the Royal Mail – such as its universal service obligation to “one-price-goes-anywhere” first-class post six days a week.
Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group already owns 27.6% of the business.
Shareholders will vote on the deal at IDS’s next annual general meeting in September.
It is also expected that the takeover will come under heavy scrutiny from regulators before it can go ahead.
The billionaire, who has been nicknamed the “Czech Sphinx”, reportedly due to his enigmatic nature and reluctance to speak in public, also owns parts of West Ham Football Club and Sainsbury’s.
The offer would see EP Group buy IDS for 370p per share.
Read more: Many are mystified why a Czech billionaire wants to buy Royal Mail’s owner
Daniel Kretinsky. Pic: Reuters
IDS said Royal Mail would keep the company’s branding and UK headquarters under the deal.
The company also insisted that the employment rights of all staff would be protected and that there was “no intention to make any material changes to overall headcount or reductions in the number of front-line workers”.
Unions and senior politicians have previously raised concerns about the potential takeover of the postal service, which was privatised in 2013.
The Labour Party previously called for a commitment for the Royal Mail to remain domiciled in the UK and keep paying tax here as part of any deal.
Pic: PA
Reacting to the announcement on Wednesday, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “These assurances are welcome that Royal Mail will retain its British identity and safeguard its workforce with no compulsory redundancies.
“Labour in government will ensure these are adhered to.”
Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch met IDS bosses earlier this month for talks on the takeover, and is said to have urged its representatives to ensure services were protected for the vulnerable, those in remote areas and small businesses.
Read more from Sky News:
Royal Mail to hike stamp prices again
Three officers injured outside Downing Street
UK has most expensive diesel in Europe
General secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Dave Ward, said: “We do welcome some of the commitments that have been made but the reality is postal workers across the UK have lost all faith in the senior management of Royal Mail and the service has been deliberately run down.
“We will meet with EP Group next week and call for a complete reset in employee and industrial relations, the restoration of postal services and further commitments on the future of the company.”
He added: “We will also be directly engaging with the Labour Party and other stakeholders to call for a new model of ownership for Royal Mail where our members and customers have a direct say in key decisions”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
From January: Royal Mail deliveries could plummet
Mr Kretinsky described the Royal Mail as “part of the fabric of UK society and has been for hundreds of years”.
He added: “The EP Group has the utmost respect for Royal Mail’s history and tradition, and I know that owning this business will come with enormous responsibility – not just to the employees but to the citizens who rely on its services every day.”
It comes after the Royal Mail put forward proposed shake-up plans to Ofcom as part of turnaround efforts, including cutting down on some deliveries.
The regulator also recently launched an investigation after the company said it delivered less than three-quarters of first-class post on time in the last year.
Business
Energy bills to rise again from January but spring falls to come, research firm Cornwall Insight forecasts
Energy bills are to rise again next year, according to a respected forecaster.
Costs from January to March are projected to rise another 1% to £1,736 a year for the average user, according to research firm Cornwall Insight.
The energy price cap, which sets a limit on how much companies can charge per unit of electricity, is also expected to rise, costing typical households an extra £19 a year.
It’s a further increase after energy costs rose 10% from October.
After the latest hike, there were hopes of a fall in the new year, but volatile wholesale gas and electricity markets are still above historic average costs.
Money blog: Supermarket-own champagne beats expensive brands in taste test
Prices have gone up due to supply concerns arising from Russia‘s war in Ukraine, and maintenance of Norwegian gas infrastructure.
But spring is expected to herald a reduction as is October 2025, Cornwall Insight said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Energy prices make me depressed’, pensioner Roy Roots said in August
Every three months energy regulator Ofgem revises the cap based on wholesale costs.
The official January price cap announcement will be made on Friday.
It comes as millions of pensioners lost their automatic winter fuel allowance payment after the government means-tested the benefit.
Meanwhile, Cornwall Insight’s principal consultant Dr Craig Lowrey warned “millions” of households won’t heat their homes to “recommended temperatures, risking serious health consequences” with bills on the rise.
“With it being widely accepted that high prices are here to stay, we need to see action,” he said, suggesting options like cheaper rates for low-income homes, benefit restructuring, or other targeted support for the vulnerable “must be seriously considered”.
The energy price cap system is being reviewed by Ofgem with possible changes to the standing charge coming over the next year.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The long-lasting solution to high energy bills is the transition to UK-produced renewable power, the firm said.
“While there will be upfront costs, this shift is essential to building a sustainable and secure energy system for the future.”
The owners of Scotland’s only oil refinery have rejected a US-led approach about a possible bid for it months before its scheduled closure.
Sky News has learnt that a consortium said to be led by Robert McKee, an American energy industry veteran, wrote to Petroineos, the owner of the Grangemouth site, to express an interest in buying it.
The approach, which is understood to have been made earlier this month, was rejected by Petroineos, which is 50%-owned by the petrochemicals empire founded by the Manchester United FC shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The consortium is understood to comprise The Canal Group, which is reportedly developing a green energy refinery in Texas, and Trading Stack, a Middle East-based commodities trader.
Mr McKee spent nearly four decades with ConocoPhillips, one of the biggest energy companies in the US.
Sources close to the situation said that Petroineos had rebuffed the offer in order to concentrate on a publicly announced plan to transform the century-old plant into a finished fuels import terminal.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
They added that the nature of the consortium’s approach had raised questions about its access to financing and expertise in operating an asset of this kind.
The Grangemouth refinery, which employs about 450 people, loses about £200m annually.
Its other shareholder is the state-backed Chinese energy giant PetroChina.
The site is due to close next year.
A person close to the consortium insisted that its financing was robust and said it would assess the feasibility of building a new refinery elsewhere in the area.
They added that the consortium had had “positive interactions” with trade union officials, and believed that there was scope to rapidly make Grangemouth’s refinery operations profitable.
On Monday, a spokesman for Petroineos said: “Since the Petroineos joint venture was formed 13 years ago, our shareholders have invested nearly £1bn in the refinery, only to absorb losses of £600m.
“Last week, the refinery lost £385,000 on average each day and we expect to lose more than £150m in total during the course of this year.
“We have not received any credible or viable bids for the refinery.”
A spokesman for the consortium declined to comment.
Cineworld’s hedge fund backers are drawing up plans to return the cinema operator to the public markets amid continuing uncertainty about the future of dozens of its British sites.
Sky News has learnt that the company’s owners are at the early stages of considering a New York listing for the business, with the first half of 2026 considered a likely window for it to take place.
City insiders said that a flotation was likely to encompass Cineworld’s operations outside the UK, with the group’s board expected to consider a sale of the British operations at some point.
They cautioned, however, that no decisions had been reached and would not be for some time.
The fate of Cineworld’s business in the UK has been mired in uncertainty for months, with the company initially exploring a sale of it before turning to a restructuring plan which compromises many of its landlords and other creditors.
It has announced the permanent closure of six sites, but it emerged last month that nearly 20 more were at risk of being shut amid ongoing talks with property owners.
The restructuring plan is due to complete later this month, which some landlords have opposed over the fairness of its terms.
Documents circulated as part of the restructuring plan process highlighted the fact that the company did not have sufficient funding to meet a quarterly rent bill on June 24 of £15.9m.
“Absent this funding, the UK Group would have been insolvent on a cashflow basis,” they said.
Other cinema operators, such as Odeon, are now poised to step in to take over small numbers of Cineworld’s other sites.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The company trades from more than 100 locations in Britain, including at the Picturehouse chain, and employs thousands of people.
Cineworld grew under the leadership of the Greidinger family into a global giant of the industry, acquiring chains including Regal in the US in 2018 and the British company of the same name four years earlier.
Read more:
Pizza Hut UK hunts buyer amid budget tax crisis
Former Tory minister eyes top job at football regulator
Its multibillion-dollar debt mountain led it into crisis, though, and forced the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2022.
It delisted from the London Stock Exchange in August 2023, having seen its share price collapse.
In addition to the UK, Cineworld also operates in central and Eastern Europe, Israel and the US.
Cineworld has been contacted for comment.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway