Loss-making Royal Mail is set to be sold to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in a multi-billion pound deal.
The beleaguered firm – haemorrhaging £1m a week – looks likely to end up in the hands of Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group.
The sale has been formally accepted by Royal mail’s parent firm International Distribution Services but will have to be approved by the Government.
However, the Communication Workers Union which speaks for 115,000 posties and was behind last year’s crippling strikes, opposes the move.
Entrepreneur Mr Kretinsky has made a series of guarantees to get his deal over the line including keeping a one-price-goes-anywhere “universal service”, under which letters are delivered six days per week and parcels Monday to Friday, keeping the brand name and Royal Mail’s headquarters and tax residency in the UK for the next five years.
The CWU ended its strikes in July last year after workers agreed a three-year pay deal. Mr Kretinsky is said to have made a commitment there will be no compulsory redundancies until at least 2025.
Royal Mail employs 140,000 – 115,000 of them on the frontline – but has wanted to axe 10,000 jobs as part of a modernisation agenda.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds described Mr Kretinsky, co-owner and president Sparta Prague Football Club and director and major shareholder of Premier League team West Ham United, as a “legitimate business figure”.
The £3.6bn deal is expected to be ratified before Christmas.
Royal Mail, which was split from the Post Office and privatised a decade ago, has seen its performance slump and suffer heavy losses.
Customers have also complained about infrequent, late and missing deliveries.
Speaking to the Express last year when catastrophic financial troubles sparked fears of the 508-year-old British institution being placed into administration CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “This is a familiar story now: a business considered too big to fail and plays a vital role in national life will be run into the ground by corporate figures mishandling a situation to catastrophic levels.
“It will be the end of a company which has provided an invaluable service to this country for over half a millennium. It will mean the end of decent jobs and secure employment for 115,000 decent and loyal employees, who deliver to 32 million addresses every day.
“This business should be thriving. Its employees have such a high level of respect in society, its infrastructure is far superior to any other potential rival. Most business figures would leap at such an opportunity to develop this company.
“Despite whatever is said against us, the CWU does not oppose modernisation. We want the company to grow.”
