The federal government is reducing its stake in Deutsche Post DHL: it is putting 50 million shares in the company on the market via KfW. The profit should go to another company.
The German state has monetized part of its stake in the post office. On Tuesday evening, the state bank KfW placed a package of 50 million shares in Deutsche Post DHL with institutional investors for 2.17 billion euros. The package is parked at KfW, but the federal government is entitled to the profit. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had announced that he wanted to raise up to four billion euros from the sale of federal holdings this year in order to finance the renovation of Deutsche Bahn’s rail network. “With the transaction, the federal government is continuing its responsible privatization policy of companies in which there is no important federal interest,” the ministry said in the evening.
“The federal government will use the proceeds from the transaction to strengthen the railway’s equity capital and to expand the railway infrastructure in Germany in a future-oriented manner.” KfW said it had taken advantage of “the good stock market environment at the beginning of this year” for the sale in coordination with the Finance Ministry. The state shareholding in the post office falls to 16.5 percent from 20.5 percent. This means that the state remains the largest shareholder in the post office.
Federal participation in postal services is falling
A Post spokesman was calm: “We have said for a long time that we are neutral about a further reduction in federal participation.” In December, the mail and parcel company stated that it was counting on KfW to take further privatization steps in a way that was gentle on the market. She succeeded. The shares were placed at 43.45 euros; the discount of 2.2 percent on the Xetra closing price is unusually low for such a large placement. The sale was organized by JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America. In late trading, Post shares had fallen 1.3 percent to 43.51 euros.
The federal government also has a stake in Telekom, among other things. There, 13.8 percent is held directly by the state and a further 16.6 percent by KfW.
Source: Stern
