TG: Royal Mail owner received takeover offer from Czech billionaire

THE GUARDIAN reports:

IDS shares rise as it is reported it rejected bid from Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group

The owner of Royal Mail received a takeover offer from a Czech billionaire who has stakes in Sainsbury’s and West Ham United football club.

Daniel Křetínský approached International Distributions Services (IDS), the owner of the struggling British postal company, this month.

In a statement, Křetínský’s EP Group, said the proposal at an undisclosed price was rejected by IDS but it “looks forward to continuing to engage constructively with the board”.

Křetínský has built up a 27.5% stake in Royal Mail through his investment vehicle, Vesa. The tycoon, known as the “Czech Sphinx” for his inscrutable approach, has a string of business interests, from energy to media assets to football clubs…

The full post is here.

Elsewhere in a note to investors out today, research house Bernstein wrote:

“Daniel Křetínský, a Czech billionaire and Chairman of energy holding company EPH, is widely reported to be exploring a cash bid for IDS. An initial bid has reportedly been rejected, but there may be more ahead. We see a logic to this: there is the potential to unlock value by separating IDS’s asset-light parcel business GLS from the struggling UK post and parcel business Royal Mail, as the latter’s weak financial performance, challenging regulation and thin margins continue to weigh on IDS’s stock price. In our view, separating GLS and Royal Mail would unlock value: IDS has long traded at a sum-of-the-parts discount.”