16 October 2016
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Three Years On From Its Sale, The Privatisation Of Royal Mail Is A Story Of Our Times

Clive Lewis Labour PAUL ELLIS via Getty Images

So just who did benefit from the sale? The government famously took a different approach to the conventional idea that you might sell to the highest bidder. Instead it followed the advice of financial institutions - which themselves bought into Royal Mail - in naming its price. It sold the shares at 330p and within a day the share price stood at 455p. At the time of course, the government said the valuation would ultimately be proved right. But with the average price since then having been even higher at 486p, the government effectively gave away £1billion in public assets to those who already had money going spare.

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