Key date is 30 April

Shareholder acceptances creep up at IDS

23 April 2025

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Shares in Royal Mail's parent group were at 365.80p this morning

The takeover of Royal Mail parent International Distribution Services has reached another milestone, with shareholder acceptances now climbing to just over 40%.

Today (23 April) EP UK Bidco and International Distribution Services (IDS) announced that as at 3pm yesterday, EP UK Bidco could count just over 392m IDS shares – representing approximately 40.91% of its issued share capital – towards satisfaction of the acceptance conditions.

EP Bidco is backed by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s Vesa Equity Investment, which was the biggest shareholder in IDS with a 27.58% stake.

The £3.6bn, 370p-a-share offer from EP UK Bidco remains subject to acceptance conditions. It will become unconditional if valid acceptances representing 75% of the voting rights of IDS are received by no later than 1pm on 30 April.

The takeover timetable resumed on 2 April after a delay caused by political unrest in Romania. At that point EP UK Bidco’s acceptances were at 33.58%.

The IDS board has recommended the offer.