Czech billionaire Kretinsky named Chairman of Royal Mail after takeover

Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is to become Chairman of Royal Mail after completing the £3.6 billion takeover of the postal service.

Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group said that, following the closure of the deal earlier this month, he would head up the board as chairman of both Royal Mail and its parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS).

Confirmation of the appointment came after IDS formally left the London Stock Exchange on June 2 after being taken over by Mr Kretinsky.

In April, shareholders approved the £3.6 billion takeover deal, giving the more than 500-year-old company a foreign owner for the first time.

Royal Mail’s new owner also said on Friday that it had issued a £1 so-called golden share to the UK Government, as agreed under the deal. The golden share means the firm must keep Royal Mail’s headquarters and tax residency in the UK.

EP added that it has changed Royal Mail’s articles of association to include the rights of the Government, and to set up an advisory committee in line with pledges made to trade unions, the Communication Workers Union and Unite, as well as the Competition and Markets Authority.

EP Group recently appointed former UK trade minister Greg Hands as a full-time strategic adviser.

Mr Hands, who was minister for trade policy until last summer when he lost his seat in the House of Commons, will advise the business with a “special focus on the UK and Germany”.

Mr Kretinsky – dubbed the Czech Sphinx – agreed the deal to buy Royal Mail’s owner in May last year, but it was not cleared until December after he made a raft of commitments over the future of the service and its workers.

He was already the biggest shareholder in IDS, which also owned parcel business GLS, prior to the deal.