DB Schenker to be sold as one unit, says German Transport Minister
The sale of Deutsche Bahn’s (DB) logistics subsidiary DB Schenker is entering a new phase. The supervisory board and DB management board decided to put the large freight forwarding company up for sale as a whole instead of selling the group in parts. This was confirmed by German transport minister Volker Wissing.
The final decision was preceded by months of research looking at “the most sensible” sale scenario. The choice ultimately fell on disposing of the entire logistics group. DB’s management added that a financially attractive purchase price must be negotiated for the sale to go ahead, as mentioned by German news agency DPA.
It might be a long process
The next step is to open the bidding process, allowing interested parties to submit offers. Then, the supervisory and DB boards will make a decision. DB will be assisted in that process by various merchant banks. It needs to be mentioned that a concrete timeframe for the bidding process and the final choice of a buyer have not been provided yet. This cannot be expected in the short term, DB says.
One reason for this is that the takeover of a market player as large as DB Schenker still has to be approved by the German and European competition authorities. The proceeds of the sale of DB Schenker, which in the past have been set somewhere between 10 and 20 billion euros, will go entirely to DB. The state-owned company must use it to reduce its sky-high mountain of debt.
This article was originally published on our Dutch sister publication Nieuwsblad Transport
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