Arriva Group on track to be listed on the Stock Exchange

Arriva Group is on track to be listed on the Stock Exchange. Rumors have been circulating for a long time so far (besides they were much more than rumors…). Arriva was expected to be sold by the end of 2019. Three funds were said to be interested in the purchase.

Now the scenario looks very different: the state-owned company Deutsche Bahn aims for an initial public offering (IPO) of its international transport unit Arriva next year, dpa news agency reported on Wednesday, citing CEO Richard Lutz.

Arriva to be listed on the Stock Exchange

Quoting Reuters, the company is planning to offer a minority stake in Arriva starting in May, dpa said, with the remainder of the shares to be sold over three years. “We definitely want to go public next year and then sell over a somewhat stretched-out period,” Lutz was quoted as saying.

A spokesperson for Deutsche Bahn, according to Reuters, confirmed the project, but refused to provide more details.

Inadequate offers for the sale of Arriva

In November Deutsche Bahn was in exclusive negotiations with the American buyout group Carlyle (CG.O). The willing to list Arriva on the stock exchange is the result of the failure of talks with potential buyers. The bids, in fact, as reported on Reuters, did not meet Deutsche Bahn’s expectations regarding the value to be paid to take over Arriva, a public transport giant with over 50,000 employees throughout Europe.

At the beginning of this year, the sale was expected to be worth between three and four billion euros.