The Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS), agreed to the takeover by Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group in May, and the deal has faced a review under the National Security and Investment Act since August, Reuters reported.
“The EP group has the utmost respect for Royal Mail’s history and tradition, and I know that owning this business will come with enormous responsibility—not just to the employees but to the citizens who rely on its services every day,” Křetínský said in a statement on the government’s approval.
The Czech businessman also said that he would ensure the Royal Mail provides a Universal Service Obligation (USO), which currently means it has to deliver letters six days per week, Monday to Saturday, and parcels Monday to Friday, for as “long as I am alive.”
“Today's announcement marks an important milestone in the approvals process,” said Keith Williams, non-executive chair of IDS.
The British government retains a “golden share” over the ownership of the 500-year-old Royal Mail that will require it to approve any change to the service’s ownership and tax residency.
Jonathan Reynolds, the British government’s business secretary, said the deal was evidence of the government's commitment to "working towards ensuring a financially stable Royal Mail with protected links between communities other providers can't reach.".
Enigmatic tycoon
The 48-year-old Křetínský is ranked 33rd on The Sunday Times Rich List (a guide to the richest people in the U.K.) with an estimated net worth of €7.23 billion—up €2.41 billion since 2023.
Křetínský, born into a high-achieving family in the Czech city of Brno, is known for keeping a low profile and rarely gives interviews, but is said to be a keen Anglophile.
He is known as the ‘Czech Sphinx,’, reportedly due to his enigmatic nature and reluctance to speak about his investments in public.
In a 2015 speech, Křetínský said: “We want to make money in industries that are dying because we think they’ll die much more slowly than the general consensus says.”
Supermarkets and soccer
The billionaire made much of his fortune from energy and fossil-fuel investments, but has a variety of business interests in countries including his home nation, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, the Netherlands and the U.K.
These include Eustream, which moves Russian gas via pipelines running through Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as sportswear retailer Foot Locker.
In 2009 he became heavily involved in the founding of J&T’s energy investment company, EPH. He is the current chairman and majority shareholder of the now multi-billion-pound company, which is part of a network of linked firms.
In 2018 he acquired a 49% stake in the French newspaper Le Monde, followed by a 3.05% stake in Sainsbury's two years later—becoming its fourth-largest shareholder.
He later increased his investment in the supermarket chain to nearly 10%.
Křetínský made another significant move into the U.K. market in 2021 when he bought a 27% stake in West Ham United football club—a deal worth £150m.
