A Czech billionaire with a stake in premier league club West Ham and Sainsbury's has been given permission to increase his stake in Royal Mail owner International Distributions Services PLC (LSE:IDS) (IDS) beyond his current 22%,
The government said it would take no action if Daniel Kretinsky's company, Vesa Equity Investment, increased its stake in IDS to more than 25%.
Any increase in his stake would prompt him to notify the stock exchange, while if he went above 30% he would have to make a full bid.
The news came as Royal Mail workers dropped plans for a series of mass walkouts over the next two weeks after the company reportedly queried the legality of the action.
Around 115,000 members of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) had been planning to strike on November 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10.
Union representatives insisted that this did not mean the industrial action was over even though talks are set to get underway at arbitration service ACAS this week in an attempt to settle the dispute about pay, conditions and modernisation.
Andy Furey, CWU’s acting deputy general secretary said: "We entirely understand the anger felt by many over the decision but we believe it is a necessary move to protect our dispute.
"They will not be forced into submission so easily, and we will be reminding the company of their determination at Acas in the coming days."
Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services says to cut 10,000 jobs as it responds to strike impact
Royal Mail recently said that the strikes had already cost it £70mln as it predicted an operating loss this year of £219mln.
The group, which was recently restructured to become part of IDS, also announced up to 6,000 redundancies, a figure it said would rise if the strikes continued.
In a statement, Royal Mail said: "The CWU has withdrawn strike action following Royal Mail writing to CWU to highlight numerous material concerns with the formal notification of planned rolling strike action."
"We will continue to do all we can to keep business, companies and the country connected," it added.
Shares in IDS rose 6.6% to 206.5p.