The government has given the go ahead for Royal Mail to be taken over by a Czech billionaire which will be the first time the company has been under foreign ownership.
Permission has been given for Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group to buy International Distribution Services (IDS) which is expected to be officially announced later today.
The government has reviewed the sale under the National Security and Investment Act.
In May Royal Mail and Kretinsky agreed the deal and have been waiting on the government to approve the deal.
Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, told BBC Breakfast on Monday morning, “The Government has obviously cleared the deal today, but Ofcom’s focus is to make sure that Royal Mail delivers for its customers.”
She said there is “real questions about what the service needs to be, going into the future”.
“We will be coming forward next year with proposals to make sure that it is sustainable, and absolutely we will hold Royal Mail to account in delivering – whatever that final outcome is.”
Dame Melanie added, “Ultimately though it is up to the company, under their new ownership, to deliver now.
“They’ve got a lot of changes that they need to make, some of that is because the letter business is changing so much.
“We understand that that is hard, but they’ve got to get on with it to make sure they continue to deliver for the public and do so better than they have done in recent years, to be honest.”
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