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The sale of Royal Mail’s parent company to a Czech billionaire has been cleared by shareholders.<\/p>\n
The approval of the \u00a33.6bn deal, first proposed a year ago, will see the 500-year institution taken over by Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group.<\/p>\n
Just over 80% of the shareholders of International Distribution Services (IDS), Royal Mail’s owner, voted in favour of the takeover on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Mr Kretinksy said he will put “employees and customers at the heart of everything IDS does”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Under the terms of the deal, the EP Group will have to maintain the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service Obligation (USO).<\/p>\n
This obligation currently means it has to deliver letters six days per week, Monday to Saturday, and parcels Monday to Friday.<\/p>\n
The company has committed to maintaining the USO for as long as it owns Royal Mail. Last year, Mr Kretinsky told the BBC he would honour the service – in whatever form it takes – “for as long as I am alive”<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keith Williams, chair of IDS, said Mr Kretinksy’s commitments in the deal “provide our customers, colleagues, and broader stakeholders with safeguards for the provision of the USO”.<\/p>\n A review of the USO closed earlier this month, with Royal Mail suggesting to the regulator Ofcom that reducing second class deliveries to every other weekday would save up to \u00a3300m a year and give the business “a fighting chance”.<\/p>\n However, the Greeting Card Association said on Wednesday it was “deeply concerned” about the Royal Mail’s proposal.<\/p>\n “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 said.<\/p>\n Mr Kretinsky has a net worth of \u00a36 billion, according to the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List.<\/p>\n In addition to owning 27% of West Ham United football club and 10% of Sainsbury’s, Mr Kretinsky’s companies also own a gas transmission service which still pipes Russian gas to Europe, albeit reduced levels, paid for and with the consent from the European Union.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n