The former Federal Post Office has long since been privatized, but as the largest individual shareholder, a state-owned bank still has a say in the logistics company DHL. A block of shares has now been sold.
After the state share in Deutsche Post fell significantly through a share sale, the Verdi union expressed sharp criticism. “Silver is being sold off here to plug self-inflicted holes in the federal budget,” explained Verdi deputy boss Andrea Kocsis in Berlin. Instead, “a sustainable investment policy with secure dividend income” should be pursued in order to permanently secure the influence on the critical infrastructure.
The state development bank KfW had previously announced that it had sold shares for a total of around 2.2 billion euros. The state share in the former federal postal service fell from 20.5 to 16.5 percent. KfW, which remains the largest individual shareholder in the global logistics company DHL even after the transaction, holds the shares on behalf of the federal government. A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday that the proceeds from the share sale will be used to strengthen the railway’s equity capital.
From the point of view of the trade unionist Kocsis, the transaction is a wrong decision that shows the “sales mentality of the FDP”. It is “downright absurd” that the proceeds from the Postal shares should be used to raise money for the railway, which has started to slide as a result of privatization.
According to its own information, KfW sold 50 million shares at a price of 43.45 euros. In retrospect, this was good business for the state-owned bank: in 2003, 2004 and 2005 it bought Post shares in three tranches – during the period of the transactions the price was between 15.70 and 20.50 euros, which is the exact purchase price not known. Now it was sold for more than twice as much. There were also dividend payments, which totaled 18 euros per share between 2004 and 2023.
Source: Stern
