Royal Mail stake to be sold to private foreign firm in £3bn deal
A large stake in Royal Mail is to be sold to a foreign postal company under plans drawn up by ministers, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.
In a deal likely to be worth around £3bn, at least a third of the state-owned firm that runs Britain’s postal network will be sold to a private company.
The move – which will see taxpayers footing the bill for Royal Mail’s £7bn pensions black hole – will be seen as the first step on the way to full privatisation of Britain’s mail services.
However, by only selling off a third of the company Labour will claim they are still keeping to their 2005 election manifesto commitment to keep it in public hands.
The Telegraph understands that two companies have been vying for the stake. One firm is TNT, the express delivery service that is part of the Dutch company TPG, the former state postal service. The other is thought to be DHL, the parcel courier, part of Deutsche Post.
The German postal company has long coveted a stake in the British postal market. Although commercial rivals can collect and deliver business mail, Royal Mail currently enjoys a monopoly on delivering residential post.
However, according to industry insiders, TNT is favourite to land the stake. TNT is already the main competitor to Royal Mail and collects more than a billion items of mail in Britain every year and handles BT bills and statements.
Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, has been instrumental in the move towards partial privatisation. The Post Office and Royal Mail have been losing money and ministers have decided to act.
Successive Governments have toyed with the idea of privatising postal services in Britain, but the move has always ultimately been rejected.
