Anyone climbing into one of London's typical red double-decker buses does not automatically think of railways in Germany. It could well be possible to sit in a vehicle owned by Deutsche Bahn, more precisely a subsidiary called Arriva. Since the beginning of the decade, DB AG has owned the traditional British company with around 50,000 employees and a turnover of five billion euros.
Arriva operates buses and trains not only on the British Isles, but also in Denmark, Croatia or Poland. But the railway urgently needs fresh money, and therefore Arriva should be repelled. If it goes to the DB CFO Alexander Doll, even later this year.
The ex-investment banker wanted to bring SPIEGEL information to the group on the stock market in Amsterdam. But that does not mean anything. At a short-dated teleconference of the Supervisory Board on Friday decided the control committee to put the deal on hold. In the "current political uncertainties" was an announcement of the IPO in October and an IPO in November "risky", it is said, according to information from supervisory board circles in the text of the decision. Meant with the uncertainties is the Brexit.
For CFO Doll, this decision is a setback. The Frankfurt-based manager, who had been working for the Berliner Bahntower for about a year, wanted to profile himself with this transaction. Originally he was looking for a single buyer. But supervisory board circles say that the offers made by investors have been too low.
New attempt at the earliest next year
The railway had originally taken Arriva for just under three billion euros. The sale should bring in at least the same amount again.
At the earliest, the decision to sell Arriva on the Supervisory Board is due in January, or perhaps not until April. This depends on the date of departure of Great Britain from the EU.
For the railway, the temporary halted IPO is not without effect. Because this year and in the coming years, there are billions of holes in the budget. In the short term, these have been stuffed with a so-called hybrid bond worth two billion euros. But more billions are urgently needed for the modernization of rails and moving equipment.
In addition, the federal government as a wholly owned owner of the railway is not satisfied with the performance of the board anyway. Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) sent a letter to railway board member Richard Lutz earlier this month asking for a concept by 14 November to remedy the shortcomings in the group, such as punctuality and the work of the executive board.
