Tag: Europe

The German government is to reduce its stake in mail carrier Deutsche Post to 8 per cent in a transaction that gives a federal bank, KfW, 48.5 per cent of the stockmarket-listed logistics group. KfW confirmed Monday the sale would go through this month. Berlin had been widely expected to force-march the privatization of the former post office since it needs to reduce net public borrowing. Originally set up as a post-war reconstruction fund, KfW is regularly used by the government as a halfway house in privatizations, as it can wait till prices improve before passing the shares on to private buyers. Its assets do not count as state-owned. A spokeswoman at KfW confirmed the price to be paid in this month’s transaction would be 1.7 billion euros. At present KfW owns 36.5 per cent of Post, which has absorbed the DHL courier group into its overall brand, Deutsche Post World Net.