Poll: Should the Royal Mail be privatised?
As the Government today confirmed it was pressing ahead with controversial plans to privatise the Royal Mail by selling shares, we ask if you think it is the right decision.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said an Initial Public Offering – IPO – is expected in the coming weeks.
Members of the public will be able to apply for shares as well as institutional investors.
Mr Cable said it was an 'important day' for the Royal Mail and its employees.
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The announcement came ahead of a meeting of Communication Workers Union officials to discuss the sell-off and their plans for a strike ballot. Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene was meeting 1,200 union representatives at a private meeting in Birmingham today in a last-ditch bid to win their support for the move and avert a crippling nationwide strike in the run-up to Christmas.
A ballot for industrial action by the Communication Workers Union is expected to be launched next week after union officials give formal notice of their plans for a vote. In a bid to win over workers, The Government has confirmed that 10 per cent of shares will be given to 150,000 Royal Mail staff.
Members of the public will be able to buy a minimum of £750 of shares.
Analysts expect the sell-off will make up to £3 billion.
Mr Cable said: "The Government is taking action to secure a healthy future for the company.
"These measures will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the six days a week, one-price- goes-anywhere universal postal service.
"By announcing that we intend to move ahead with a sale of shares in Royal Mail we are completing the third and final part of the reforms agreed in Parliament two years ago."
All shares will be sold at the same price, with full details in a prospectus to be published "in due course".
The IPO is expected in the coming weeks after ministers said they expected to complete the sale in the current financial year.
