Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss and Slaughter and May are advising on the proposed takeover of the Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Service (IDS), by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
The deal is a revised non-binding proposal from EP Corporate Group for the remaining share capital of IDS which is not already owned by EP, which at present, holds 27.6% of IDS’s issued share capital.
The proposal values the entire issued share capital of IDS at approximately £3.5bn.
EP is being advised by Kirkland, with a team led by corporate partners David Higgins, Dipak Bhundia and Jiri Peterka, alongside antitrust & competition partner Matthew Sinclair-Thomson.
Paul Weiss is also advising EP, handling financing and structuring aspects of the bid, with finance duo Neel Sachdev and Stefan Arnold-Soulby, leading the firm’s team.
Slaughters corporate duo Richard Smith and Claire Jackson are advising IDS’s management.
In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange, IDS chair Keith Williams said: ‘The Board is minded to recommend this offer price, which it considers to be fair and reflects the value of GLS’ current growth plans and the progress being made on change at Royal Mail to adapt the business to a significant fall in the demand for letters and growth in parcels.
‘It is however regrettable that despite four years of asking, the Government has not seen fit to engage in reform of the Universal Service and thus improve our financial position and ensure that Royal Mail could provide an economically sustainable service to the British public.’