The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn has approved the sale of DB Schenker to Danish shipping company DSV for 14.8 billion euros. The decision came despite a few worries surfaced when some members of the board openly said they would vote against.
The voting session commenced today at 12 pm and now the outcome is a positive one, as DB mentioned. After almost a year, what was renamed as the logistics sale of the century can be considered concluded, with DB saying goodbye to the main profit-maker of the group, DB Schenker.
It now remains to be seen what DSV’s plans will be and what the impact of this sale, both in Germany and worldwide, will be. Recently, DB defended the choice of DSV as the buyer after concerns moved by the other final bidder, a consortium led by CVC Capital Partners, regarding the transparency of the decision. “The sale is expected to be completed in the course of 2025 after all regulatory approvals have been received”, DB said in a statement.
‘It was a mistake’ says EVG
“We believe the decision to sell Schenker was a serious strategic mistake. In order to generate short-term revenue, long-term income is to be foregone”, said Martin Burkert, Chairman of EVG and member of DB’s Supervisory Board. The union is now asking for the profit form the sale to be used to repair DB’s debt and is highlighting “a threat of massive job cuts” if negotiated guarantees are not made more specific and for longer than the current two years.
