Germany's coalition of Conservative and Social Democrats is close to a deal to sell a quarter of Deutsche Bahn (DB), one of the largest rail networks in Europe, to private investors.
DB last year purchased freight operator EWS in Britain, and later acquired Chiltern Railway and its share in the Wrexham, Shropshire & Marylebone ‘open access’ operator — which is to launch its service between London and North Wales later this month.
After an almost five-hour overnight meeting, the Social Democrats (SPD — the junior members of Angela Merkel's grand coalition government in Germany — have agreed to allow private investors to buy up to 24.9 per cent of DB’s passenger and logistics operations. This fell short of the 49.9 per cent that Merkel and leading members of her Conservative bloc had been arguing for.
The new deal would mean that 100 per cent of the track network and 75.1 per cent of Deutsche Bahn's passenger and freight operations — including EWS and Chiltern Railway in Britain — would remain in German state hands.
Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Medhorn has said he hopes that the company, which is the last major German state-owned company facing privatisation, will make its stock-market debut possibly as early as September. Some analysts, however, believe that 2009 would be a more realistic target date for the part-privatisation.