Kuwait and Singapore sovereign funds to get Royal Mail shares

Kuwait and Singapore’s sovereign funds are known to have ordered “hundreds of millions” of Royal Mail shares.

Sky News reports that the Kuwait Investment Office, the Gulf state’s sovereign fund, and the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) of Singapore are expected to be allocated shares. However, the funds might not get a meaty allocation as demand for the Royal Mail stock is very high.

UK ministers are reportedly very keen for the sovereign funds to get some allocated shares so that the privatisation gets a “geographically-diverse” investor base.

BBC business editor Robert Peston reported this morning that those who applied for the minimum £750 of shares will get their full entitlement, but those who ordered between £750 and £10,000 might see their applications scaled back.

Final decisions about the allocations will be made today and conditional trading begins Friday.