Royal Mail selloff announced
In a blatant attempt to curry favour with Royal Mail employees the UK government yesterday announced plans for a massive share sale which would see 10% of shares available put to one side for Royal Mail employees. It is believed that Royal Mail staff will be offered a discount on the issue price as well as the potential to have a very prominent say in the future direction of the company.
This will be the largest UK privatisation for 25 years and is likely to attract criticism and positive interest in equal measures. As a side-note the UK government also revealed that the £10 billion Royal Mail pension fund deficit will be taken on by the UK taxpayer and not sold off as part of the proposed floatation. In effect Royal Mail will be stripped of its major liabilities allowing large scale investment in new technology and new working practices for the future.
There will be obvious concerns regarding future ownership of Royal Mail which if floated on the stock market would be open to potential takeover approaches from overseas counterparts. This is not something which the UK government would encourage but ultimately in a free market there is very little that can be done.
Share this..
Related stories
Kwik Fit Insurance Confirmed As Cheapest Car Insurer On The Market
Even though the Kwik Fit Insurance division has only been trading since 1995 it has quickly made a name for itself with a report from moneysupermarket.com confirming that of 12 million insurance quotes requested on the site, Kwik Fit Insurance was consistently the more competitive of insurers in the market. The average quote was confirmed at £277 showing that the group seem to have hit the mark w...
Read MoreLord Turner backs UK financial sector
Lord Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, believes now is the time to lay off the UK banking sector which has been demonised for many months now. Only yesterday we saw Nick Clegg and Vince Cable stepping up to the mark to suggest that the government will "do whatever is needed" to attack the greed of the UK financial sector. There is now a danger that the banking industry will...
Read MoreKraft Foods attacks Cadbury defence document
Cadbury has today released a defence document which it hopes will highlight the value of the company going forward and place more focus upon what the company sees as a derogatory bid from Kraft Foods. However, in some ways Cadbury directors have played into the hands of Kraft Foods as the defence document issued today includes only headline figures and no audited management forecast the 2010. So w...
Read MoreThe FTSE 100 comes under pressure
The UK stock market, after an encouraging start to 2010, is today under pressure amid concerns that the UK economy may well slip back into recession in the short term. After hitting a peak of just under 5500 in mid-January the market now stand at around 5275 with some investors concerned about the short-term outlook for UK stocks and shares. Whether this is just a short-term correction after a...
Read MoreBarclays Global Investments could be sold on Monday
Rumours are circulating in the city that Barclays bank has agreed an £8 billion sale of its fund management division Barclays Global Investments (BGI) to American outfit BlackRock. This is a deal which has the potential to release windfall payments of $585 million for BGI staff who have been building up their stakes in the business for some time. This will also relieve the pressure on Barclays ba...
Read More