German govt had not decided on when to sell Post pension obligations

German Finance Minister Hans Eichel said it has not yet been decided when the government will sell Deutsche Post pension obligations.

‘Currently, there are no talks with investors,’ he told dpa-AFX news agency in an interview.

Eichel had said in November that the government hopes to raise 5.5 bln eur from the planned sale of some pension fund receivables of former post-office monopoly Deutsche Post’s successor companies.

The pension fund sales involve transfers by Deutsche Post World Net AG and Deutsche Telekom AG, which are the successor companies to Deutsche Post.

Eichel also said possible future transfers of shares in Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Post World Net to KfW Bankengruppe are not dependent on capital markets developments.

‘The previously used ‘parking’ solution at KfW makes us more independent from the market situation,’ he said, without indicating whether and when the government may transfer further shares.

The last such transaction was in January, when KfW bought a 12.7 pct stake in Deutsche Post World Net AG from the government for 1.7 bln eur, raising its total stake to 48.8 pct.