UK Royal Mail set for staff buyout?
Royal Mail bosses are said to preparing to sell the firm to employees to stave off a feared GBP5bn privatisation of the postal industry.
Senior executives are said to believe the Government is considering privatising the sector to boost public coffers.
The Times says company chairman Allan Leighton is preparing to generate a windfall by giving staff shares which would pay dividends.
News of the planned worker buyout came a day after Royal Mail unveiled profits of GBP200m but an array of missed business targets.
Mr Leighton was asked by the Prime Minister to take control of the firm two years ago.
His three-year tenure at the helm of the company is due to end in March but he wants to stay, although has warned he will quit if complete privatisation is imposed.
Government sources have reacted angrily to claims of the privatisation, insisting there are no such plans.
One Downing Street insider said the Government would be mad to go for a sell-off and that the Royal Mail’s claims were simply a “ruse” to push through its own agenda.
