The U.K. government's controversial auction of 30% of Royal Mail Group Ltd. could be over before it's started. Potential bidders are apparently retreating even before Business Secretary Peter Mandelson manages to strong-arm recalcitrant Labour lawmakers into towing the line at a parliamentary vote on the sale next month.
Deutsche Post AG has indicated in recent days that it probably won't bid, while longtime favorite TNT NV is losing its appetite for the holding, according to the Daily Telegraph Wednesday. The Guardian added Wednesday that Mandelson, architect of the unpopular sell-off, has complained that TNT, a Dutch postal and logistics company, is making "unreasonable demands" of the state.
Meanwhile, the issue of financing is reportedly dogging CVC Capital Partners Ltd.'s attempt to mount a bid. The London buyout shop may have been hoping that an increasingly desperate government would ape other forced sellers and provide vendor financing. But with the U.K. staggering under the weight of record public debt and with every corporate intervention by the government under scrutiny, that could be a hard sell. - Laura Board
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