DB stands firm on decision to sell Schenker to DSV

Equity firm CVC, which got the short end of the stick in the DB Schenker acquisition race, tried to appeal to Deutsche Bahn to overturn the decision concerning its logistics subsidiary. The investment company remains certain that its current offer is superior to DSV’s winning bid, and demanded transparency from Deutsche Bahn about the decision making process. However, DB announced it will stick to its guns and will not reconsider the decision.

In a letter to Deutsche Bahn earlier this week, CVC told the rail operator that it is ready to put more on the table for DB Schenker than the original 14 billion euro offer. CVC says that its offer for DB Schenker was superior to DSV’s, and was calling upon Deutsche Bahn to conduct a fair and transparent acquisition process.

“If Deutsche Bahn was of the view that there were any residual uncertainties as to how the two offers compare, we would be prepared to discuss an increase of the equity value of our offer to fully remove any such concerns”, CVC says in the letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg. However, it now seems that DB will keep its course and DB Schenker will end up in DSV’s hands.

DB Schenker sale still needs confirmation

Earlier this month, DSV announced that it had won the race for the DB Schenker acquisition. The Danish logistics company is putting 14 billion euros on the table for the purchase, which would propel it forward to become the largest freight forwarding company globally.

The purchase still needs to be confirmed by a supervisory board, which means that there is technically still a possibility that the purchase can go off the rails. It seems that CVC is taking its chance to snatch DB Schenker away from DSV at the last moment.