Royal Mail to sell stake in lottery operator?

Royal Mail is to sell its 20% stake in the UK National Lottery operator Camelot, Sky sources say. The article continues:

Breaking the news, Mark Kleinman said: “This comes as the other four shareholders, who also own 20% stakes, are planning to cash in their shareholdings with Camelot.

“There is an auction process which has been going on for some weeks now.

“Among the likely buyers are people like Sir Richard Branson and the operator of the French national lottery.

“It is significant that Royal Mail is throwing its hat into the ring as well because it means now that a complete takeover of Camelot is now looking very likely.”

Camelot’s other four shareholders are Cadbury, Fujitsu, banknote printer De La Rue and electronics group Thales.

The firm has a nine-year license left to run the lottery, and an option to extend that for a further five years.