Last hope of Royal Mail rescue lies in... Brussels

[RobertT]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mar ... ssels.html

Royal Mail could be saved from a rapacious takeover bid by Daniel Kretinsky by European Union competition watchdogs, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The investigation by EU authorities comes as scrutiny of the Czech billionaire’s business links to Russia intensifies.

Kretinsky, 49, wants to snap up the company in a £3.6 billion deal. If he succeeds, Royal Mail would fall into foreign hands for the first time in its 508-year history.

The Labour Government is thought to be likely to wave through the deal in the coming weeks. However, European competition authorities – whose investigation began at the end of the summer – are set to take a much harder line.

Kretinsky already owns a majority stake in Dutch mail service PostNL.

The European Commission is investigating whether a takeover of Royal Mail, combined with his interests in the Netherlands, would give him too much market power.

Some experts believe that Kretinsky – nicknamed the Czech Sphinx for his inscrutable demeanour – is aiming to combine PostNL with Royal Mail’s hugely profitable European parcels arm GLS.

A competition lawyer told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The UK regulators are just one bit of the jigsaw. The European Commission really has teeth and I think Kretinsky and his team will secretly be more worried about them.’

The investigation by the EU comes amid rising concerns over Kretinsky’s connections to Russia.

Accounts for EP Group, the holding company for his business empire, reveal that one of his commodity trading firms is in a £174million dispute with a Russian company after it did not fulfil a coal contract when the war in Ukraine began in 2022.

The trading house EP Resources refused to buy coal from the Russian firm in line with international sanctions.

However, the legal wrangling shows the extent of Kretinsky’s Russian ties.

The dispute is in arbitration and EP Group has warned the outcome is impossible to predict.

Kretinsky, who owns a stake in the Slovakian pipeline EUStream, one of the main gas routes from Russia into Western Europe, has always played down his ties to the country, now an international pariah. He insists he does not buy gas from Russia or have dealings with the Kremlin.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds last week described him as a ‘legitimate’ businessman.

[tramssirhc]

The absolute state of this journalism. The rabidly right wing daily heil looking to the EU to save a company that has been in 'foreign ownership' for years. The daily hatemail is no friendly of the working class. Get this shite off here.

[NWpostie]

All media have equal representation on this forum even the Socialist Worker, it's called freedom of press live with it or scroll past.

[britwrit]

Once the Russians control the England-Holland bulk mailings market, the whole free world is doomed.

[datasaint]

The absolute state of this journalism. The rabidly right wing daily heil looking to the EU to save a company that has been in 'foreign ownership' for years.

The irony of this did make me laugh too. Everyone bleats about the EU until they need them.

[Tman]

It's just reported journalism isn't it?
I don't recall anyone asking the EU to get involved.

[Sean06]

The absolute state of this journalism. The rabidly right wing daily heil looking to the EU to save a company that has been in 'foreign ownership' for years. The daily hatemail is no friendly of the working class. Get this shite off here.

Seems you only like stage3,s posts

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Unless I read the article wrong, this is not directly connected with Royal Mail in the UK, but with GLS, owned by RM, and whether it breaks the EU competition rule. So unless he is after GLS as the icing on the cake, and Royal Mail is secondary, I can't see the investigation affecting the sale in the UK. But he could abandon the sale if the EU rules against him because of his holding with Post NL.

[Jefferson Starfish]

Unless I read the article wrong, this is not directly connected with Royal Mail in the UK, but with GLS, owned by RM, and whether it breaks the EU competition rule. So unless he is after GLS as the icing on the cake, and Royal Mail is secondary, I can't see the investigation affecting the sale in the UK. But he could abandon the sale if the EU rules against him because of his holding with Post NL.

Is he not trying to buy IDS, which includes RM and GLS?