In view of the tight cash situation, the German state has sold some of its postal shares. The state bank KfW placed 50 million shares in Deutsche Post DHL for around 2.2 billion euros with institutional investors on Tuesday evening. The package was parked at KfW and the federal government is entitled to the profits. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had announced that he wanted to raise up to four billion euros from the sale of federal holdings this year in order to finance the renovation of Deutsche Bahn’s rail network. “With the transaction, the federal government is continuing its responsible privatization policy of companies in which there is no important federal interest,” the ministry said. The state shareholding in the post office falls from 20.5 to 16.5 percent. This means that the state remains the largest shareholder in the group. The DHL Group share price temporarily fell by a good four percent on Wednesday.
The federal government will use the proceeds to strengthen the railway’s equity capital and expand the railway infrastructure in Germany, it said. KfW said it had taken advantage of “the good stock market environment at the beginning of this year” for the sale in coordination with the Finance Ministry. The federal government has a stake in more than a hundred companies, including Deutsche Telekom, the gas importer Uniper and Commerzbank. According to SZ information, the federal government recently commissioned an investment bank to explore what could happen next with the share in Commerzbank – but it is unclear whether it wants to separate. If there is a sale, the Soffin bank rescue fund could expect another two billion euros.
KfW – the abbreviation stands for Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau – is one of the leading development banks in the world. Since 1948, it has been working on behalf of the federal and state governments to improve economic, social and ecological living conditions in Germany and worldwide. The institute, which is owned 80 percent by the federal government and 20 percent by the federal states, provides medium-sized companies, home builders and students with low-interest loans in the traditional development business. There is also export and project financing, the promotion of developing and emerging countries and the subsidiary KfW Capital for investments in start-ups.
This year, the institute would like to significantly expand funding for affordable housing and climate-friendly renovation, KfW announced on Wednesday. More than ten billion euros are earmarked for this in the 2024 federal budget. This would be around five billion more than was spent last year. “On behalf of the federal government, we are supporting the people in Germany to master the climate-friendly transition in the building sector little by little,” said CEO Stefan Wintels. In the past five years, KfW has supported more than 800,000 sustainable apartments with more than 140 billion euros and made home ownership possible for more than 400,000 families.