Advisers to Receive Hefty Fees for Royal Mail Takeover
Advisers working on the highly-publicized takeover of Royal Mail’s parent company are set to receive a generous sum of over £130 million. According to sources close to the deal, International Distribution Services (IDS) and its potential owner, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, are prepared to pay out this impressive sum to bankers and other professional services firms involved in the acquisition.
The fee pool, which is slated to be officially disclosed in an offer document to be released on Wednesday, will be shared among several banks, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and BNP Paribas. The majority of these fees will be paid by EP UK Bidco, the company owned by Mr. Kretinsky, with a significant portion going towards financing the deal.
However, the takeover of IDS is currently under review by national security authorities, bringing the future of Britain’s universal postal service into the public spotlight. In light of this, Mr. Kretinsky has made a series of commitments to maintain the service levels proposed by IDS, as well as the company’s UK tax residency, headquarters, branding, and existing employment rights. Despite these assurances, the leader of the union representing Royal Mail’s 112,000 UK frontline workers believes that these commitments are not enough.
The proposed £3.6 billion acquisition of IDS, which includes the international parcels arm GLS, is expected to be voted on by shareholders later this year. At this time, none of the parties involved have made any comments on the matter.
