Although DSV’s $16 billion DB Schenker acquisition still had some doubters among German unions that enough jobs will be maintained in the deal’s aftermath, Deutsche Bahn’s supervisory board approved its sale of the freight forwarder Wednesday morning.
As part of the deal, Denmark-based DSV plans on investing $1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) into Schenker to promote the company’s growth.
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Germany’s federal government also approved the deal, which is expected to be completed in 2025 after regulatory approvals.
One of Germany’s most powerful railroad unions, Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft (EVG), or the Railway and Transport Union, had hoped it could influence the board to vote down the deal. EVG is one of the country’s multiple labor organizations that had a bone to pick with the logistics takeover.
“After 153 years, DB Schenker is to disappear from the [German] market,” Martin Burkert, the chairman of the EVG, told German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) ahead of the vote. Burkert, also the deputy chair of the Deutsche Bahn supervisory board that tallied the vote, argued that the sale would do damage to Germany as a place of business. “Politicians and the management board are portraying the sale of our crown jewels as a strategy.”
Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn, said proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s $30 billion debt. The union had argued that it is uncertain whether the state-owned railway would use the sale to pay it off.
Eight EVG members are on DB’s 20-member supervisory board that voted on the transaction, including Burkert. Joining Burkert are nine employee representatives, as well as 10 shareholder representatives, including chairman Werner Gatzer. The shareholder representatives include two of Germany’s secretaries of state and three members of the country’s parliament.
“The sale of DB Schenker marks an important milestone for DB in its efforts to fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” said Gatzer in a statement.
EVG planned to gain support from another rail union, Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer (GDL), the Union of German Train Drivers, who had one representative on the board.