CVC’s Last-Attempt DB Schenker Bids Called ‘Inferior’
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Deutsche Bahn AG said bids submitted after the deadline by private equity fund CVC Capital Partners Plc. remain “inferior” to the winner’s offer, the latest twist in the 14.3 billion-euro ($16 billion) battle for its logistics unit.
Denmark’s DSV A/S agreed on Sept. 13 to buy DB Schenker in a deal that would create the world’s largest freight forwarder. But the transaction is still pending final approvals from Deutsche Bahn as well as the German state, and at least one local labor union has since objected to DSV’s takeover. Meanwhile CVC, which lost out in the final stage, has tried to derail the deal by airing new bids.
After the deadline, CVC filed new offers, which “were improved in marginal areas but never fundamentally, and were always inferior to the successful offer from DSV,” Deutsche Bahn said in a statement Sept. 30, responding to media inquiries.
DSV A/S (North America) ranks No. 10 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America. It ranks No. 14 on the TT Top 50 list of the largest global freight carriers.
DB Schenker ranks No. 25 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America. Deutsche Bahn ranks No. 15 on the global freight carriers TT50.
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EVG, one of Deutsche Bahn’s labor unions, will try to block the deal at an Oct. 2 supervisory board meeting, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported over the weekend. However, while the company’s supervisory board is equally split between labor and shareholder representatives, EVG alone doesn’t have the power to torpedo the deal, according to FAZ.
“DSV clearly submitted the best binding offer at every point in the process,” the rail company said in the statement.
