DEUTSCHE BAHN BIDS TO ACQUIRE PARENT OF SCHENKER
The supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn AG, Europe’s largest railroad, approved today a takeover bid for the German logistics group Stinnes AG, the parent company of the international forwarding and logistics company Schenker.
Deutsche Bahn AG announced that it intends to submit an offer to all stockholders of Stinnes AG, providing that an agreement can be reached by July 4 at 8.00 a.m. between Deutsche Bahn and E.ON AG, the largest shareholder of Stinnes, about the sale of its stake in Stinnes.
E.ON, a German energy services group, said that it has completed negotiations with Deutsche Bahn on the sale of its 65.4 percent stake in Stinnes AG, and will submit the proposed purchase to its supervisory board tonight.
The German railroad offered to pay 32.75 per share (about $32) in cash for all stock of Stinnes. The bid values the takeover bid of Stinnes at about 2.5 billion euro ($2.5 billion).
Stinnes, including its transportation arm Stinnes, is one of the largest logistics and forwarding groups in Europe. Stinnes has annual revenues of about 12.3 billion euro ($12 billion) and about 43,000 employees at over 1,300 locations worldwide.
Schenker provides land transport, air and sea freight services, as well as logistics services and global supply chain management from a single source. Some 30,000 employees work for the German forwarding and logistics group.
Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned railway company headquartered in Berlin, has annual revenues of 15.7 billion euro (about $15 billion) and some 214,000 staff. It lost 406 million euro (about $400 million) in 2001.
Deutsche Post said that the takevoer of Stinnes will complement its freight services, adding logistics services to its existing carrier services. Deutsche Bahn sold Stinnes in 1991, and the logistics company had an initial public offering in 1999. A successful takeover would return Stinnes to the state sector.
Stinnes expressed positive initial views on the proposed takeover bid by Deutsche Bahn. “The board of management of Stinnes AG feels that the offer price of 32.75 euro per share announced by Deutsche Bahn is attractive,” Stinnes said. Stinnes’ management and supervisory board “will comment on all major aspects of the offer submitted by Deutsche Bahn as soon as they have the offer document, which is expected to be available in the first half of the month of August,” the company said.
Deutsche Bahn’s offer represents a premium of 24.5 percent over Stinnes’ closing price on June 26, the last trading day before speculations about the takeover became public.
E.ON said that the transaction is expected to be completed in the fall of 2002. Deutsche Bahn must obtain antitrust approval and consent under Germany ‘s Federal Budget Code.