London May 29 2024: Shares in International Distribution Services rose on Wednesday after the group’s board recommended a £5.2bn takeover deal for Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s to buy the Royal Mail owner.
IDS’s shares rose 2.8 per cent in early trading after Křetínský’s EP Group agreed to pay 370 pence a share for London-listed IDS including debt. The deal values the group at £5.2bn.
The takeover talks have been beset by postal strikes and the burden of having to deliver letters at a set price across the country.
Under the terms of the transaction, EP Group promised to preserve service levels and maintain the company’s UK headquarters.
Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský has agreed to buy the owner of Royal Mail in a deal valuing the former UK postal monopoly at £5.2bn, as he pledged to revive the group’s fortunes away from the glare of public markets.
Křetínský’s EP Group has agreed to pay 370 pence a share for International Distribution Services, the London-listed parent company of Royal Mail. Including IDS’s debt, the deal values the group at £5.2bn.
EP Group and IDS have spent the past few weeks hammering out the details of a deal for one of the UK’s best-known companies, which since privatisation has been beset by strikes and the burden of having to deliver letters at a set price across the country.
The deal, which will now be considered by regulators, comes at the start of an election campaign and risks provoking further tensions with postal workers.
Křetínský is already the largest shareholder in IDS with a 27.5 per cent stake. A lawyer-turned-energy tycoon, he also owns stakes in supermarket chain J Sainsbury and English Premier League football club West Ham United.
