The British government yesterday officially launched plans to privatize more than half of Royal Mail, saying an initial sale of shares in the state-run postal service would occur within weeks.
“Her Majesty’s Government today announces its intention to proceed with an initial public offering of Royal Mail,” said a joint statement, which added that the initial public offering was “expected to take place in the coming weeks.”
Royal Mail is to list on the London Stock Exchange, while the coalition government said it would “retain flexibility around the size of the stake to be sold.”
The government had in July announced plans to privatize more than 50 percent of Royal Mail following a major restructuring of the organization in recent years, triggered by fierce competition from e-mail.
Royal Mail is expected to be Britain’s biggest privatization since the 1980 sell-offs of former nationalized giants British Gas and British Telecommunications.
Media reports say the part sale of Royal Mail could be worth up to ￡3 billion (US$4.74 billion). The government previously said that it would take on Royal Mail’s historic pension deficit.
About 150,000 staff will be eligible to get a free stake in the business under Britain’s largest employee share scheme of any major British privatization for almost 30 years.
The government has argued that partial privatization would allow Royal Mail the freedom to raise capital, continue modernizing and meet booming demand for online shopping delivery.
Royal Mail recently enjoyed a surge in annual profits thanks to the increasing popularity of online shopping, which generates parcel traffic, and also to deep cost-cutting and big increases in stamp prices.
The coalition government relaunched plans to part-privatize Royal Mail three years ago after the proposal was ditched by the former Labour Party administration.
The government scrapped the sell-off plans in 2009 as Britain struggled with recession following the global financial crisis.
Royal Mail continues to operate most British postal services, even though its more than 350-year monopoly of the letter-delivery business ended in 2006.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS