Vince Cable, the U.K. Business Secretary, has outlined their plans for the sale of stocks in the state-owned Royal Mail Group Ltd., a person familiar with the plans said. 10% of the shares have already been reserved for its staff, he said.

The shares for Royal Mail's staff will be given in two portions, half immediately and the other half at a later unspecified date. U.K. Ministers have pointed out that their preferred option is a public offering before March, said the person, who did not want to be recognized as the sale is not public yet. The Secretary is to set the plan out in detail to Parliament on July 10.

The three centuries-and-a-half old company, one of the U.K.'s largest employers with around 160,000 employees, has been aiming to employ a more profitable package delivery system in the face of competition from Deutsche Post's DHL Express of Germany and TNT NV  of the Netherlands.

The Ministry selected Goldman Sachs and UBS as joint global coordinators while Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays were appointed as a joint bookrunners for the deal.