Referreport
Deutsche Bahn wants to sell the profitable logistics company Schenker. The deal with the Danish competitor DSV still has to go through the DB supervisory board – and there is resistance there.
On Wednesday, the supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn is scheduled to vote on the sale of the logistics subsidiary DB Schenker – but the committee’s approval is shaky. The railway and transport union EVG wants to oppose the sale, as the German Press Agency learned. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” also reported on the EVG’s project. If EVG can convince other members of the committee of its position, the sale could still be stopped.
DB Schenker is to be sold to Danish competitor DSV for 14.3 billion euros. In doing so, the ailing DB Group wants to separate itself from one of the few well-performing business areas in-house. The proceeds from the sale will be used entirely to reduce the mountain of debt, which amounted to around 33 billion euros in the first half of the year.
GDL would have to agree with the EVG position
It remains to be seen whether EVG can prevent the sale of Schenker with its late offensive. Half of the 20-member group supervisory board comes from the employee side. In addition to the EVG, the German Locomotive Drivers’ Union is also represented. It is unclear whether she will also vote against the Schenker sale. On the employer side, the DB supervisory board includes two state secretaries and three members of the Bundestag.
If there is a tie in the vote, the chairman of the supervisory board, Werner Gatzer, could use his double voting rights to push through the decision against the employee representatives.
Employee representatives prefer sale to investor
Most recently, private equity investor CVC Capital Partners was also interested in purchasing Schenker. The employee representatives at Schenker would have preferred a sale to CVC. They fear that the sale to DSV will result in major job cuts.
In the first half of this year alone, Schenker achieved an operating profit (EBIT) of 520 million euros. It was thanks above all to Schenker that the railway was at least temporarily in the black again after the Corona crisis. In 2023, the logistics giant made a profit of 1.8 billion euros and brought the railway out of the loss zone, at least operationally.
Source: German