CVC, DSV submit final bids around 14 billion euros for Deutsche Bahn’s Schenker, sources say
5:53 am Friday, August 23rd, 2024
By Emma-Victoria Farr and Markus Wacket
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Deutsche Bahn’s logistics unit Schenker has collected final bids from a consortium led by CVC Capital Partners and from Danish transport firm DSV, which value the business at around 14 billion euros ($15.6 billion), two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The CVC consortium also submitted an option that could see the German government reinvest with a minority stake, potentially taking its offer up to 16 billion euros, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
CVC’s long-term plan is to list the business on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, one of the people said. The private equity firm will guarantee that Schenker’s headquarters remain in Germany and that it will maintain its brand, the people said.
Deutsche Bahn is evaluating the final two offers and will need to discuss them with the government, with a final decision expected in the coming weeks, the people said.
“The most important criterion remains that a sale must be economically advantageous for the railway,” a spokesperson for Deutsche Bahn said, declining to comment further.
CVC and DSV declined to comment.
The state-owned German railway wants to sell Schenker in order to concentrate on rail transport in Germany and reduce its mountain of debt amounting to around 30 billion euros. The sales process is scheduled to close formally in 2025.
($1 = 0.8992 euros)
(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr in Frankfurt and Markus Wacket in Berlin, Additional reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen, Editing by Friederike Heine and Conor Humphries)
