Bids for Royal Mail stake due in April

Bids for the sale of a 30% stake in Royal Mail are due in April, business minister Peter Mandelson has said, signaling the government is pushing ahead with the controversial sale.

Bids for the sale of a 30% stake in Royal Mail are due in April, business minister Peter Mandelson has said, signaling the government is pushing ahead with the controversial sale.

“It’s due in the course of April, but I can’t give you a day and time, but during April,” Mandelson told reporters during a visit to Bahrain’s capital when asked when bids would be due.

German weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on 4 April in an unsourced report that Deutsche Post, TNT and CVC are bidding for the stake.

The British parliament’s business committee last week said the government had failed to make a case for the sale as there is no clarity around how the proceeds would be used.

More than 130 Labour parliamentarians are expected to vote against the plan.
Mandelson said there had been no formal bids as yet.

“We won’t reach the tentative deadline for the submission of bids until during the course of this month, so it’s too early to say,” he said.

Those parties that have expressed interest are now evaluating the information they were given, he said without naming any companies.