Yahoo Finance Royal Mail Sell-Off 'Cost Taxpayer Millions'
Taxpayers lost out on more than £1bn due to the Government's low valuation of Royal Mail (Other OTC: ROYMF - news) shares during its privatisation, the National Audit Office has found.
The public spending watchdog concluded ministers showed "deep caution" when pricing the shares last year.
As a result, on the first day of trading alone, Royal Mail's new shareholders benefited to the tune of £750m - money which could have gone to the public purse.
Royal Mail shares, which were sold at 330p each, are now trading more than two-thirds higher than the price at which they were sold by the Government. Today they were trading at 565p.
The NAO report concluded the Business department should not have relied so heavily on their City advisers, while the Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge accused Vince Cable's department of being "clueless".
The Government sold £2bn of shares in October, amounting to 60% of the company, and favoured priority investors such as Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) , Fidelity and BlackRock (NYSE: BLK - news) hoping they would be long-term investors.
In the event, the 12 priority investors sold all or some of their holdings, making a significant profit, within the first few weeks of trading.
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: "The department was very keen to achieve its objective of selling Royal Mail and was successful in getting the company listed on the FTSE 100. Its approach, however, was marked by deep caution, the price of which was borne by the taxpayer.
"The Government retained 30% of the company. It could have retained even more and allowed the taxpayer to participate further in the rapidly increasing share price and thus limit the cost to the taxpayer."
The report does, however, say the Business Secretary was right to reject bankers' gold-plated valuations of Royal Mail of more than £9bn.
Defending the sell-off, Mr Cable said: "Achieving the highest price possible at any cost and whatever the risk was never the aim of the sale.
"The report concludes there was a real risk of a failed sale attached to pushing the price too high, and a failed sale would have been the worst outcome for taxpayers and jeopardised the operation of Royal Mail going forward.
"The report also comprehensively demolishes the argument that the Government should have relied on the price valuations of some banks who were pitching for the contract to sell Royal Mail.
"The NAO confirms we have protected taxpayers from the risk of needing to offer ongoing support to the company as well as safeguarding the vital six-day-a-week service that customers and businesses around the country rely on."
Critics of the sale have seized on the axing of 1,300 jobs and a hike in stamp prices in recent days as evidence of the folly of privatisation.
Unite national officer Brian Scott said: "This report is startling proof that the Government sold off the country's family silver on the cheap.
"The privatisation of Royal Mail was wrong in every way. The loser is the UK taxpayer and the tragedy is that money that should be flowing into the Treasury for schools and hospitals is going into the pockets of private investors."
Some 10% of Royal Mail was handed free to employees during the privatisation.
Taxpayers were left with a 30% stake that is now worth around £1.6bn.
More From Sky News
