One of the region’s largest firms is set to be floated on the Stock Exchange next year, it has confirmed.
German rail firm Deutsche Bahn, the owner of transport giant Arriva, has said it is aiming for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2020.
The transport subsidiary, which is based in Sunderland and employs hundreds of people in the region as part of its 50,000 strong Europe-wide workforce, operates train and bus services in 14 European countries, including the Northern rail service and the London Overground.
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Earlier this year Deutsche Bahn said it was mulling the sale of the company, after its supervisory board has asked management to pursue “various options” for a sale.
At the time, Deutsche Bahn, which is owned by the German state, said a sale would help limit its debts and give Arriva, which is based at Doxford International Business Park, room to grow.
A DB spokeswoman said: “The agreed process regarding DB Arriva continues.
“We have always stated that an IPO is one option for the sale of the company. We intend to go public with Arriva in 2020. Initially we plan to list a minority stake and aim to sell down our stake over the next years.”
The confirmation comes a month after it was reported that Deutsche Bahn was in exclusive talks with a US group over the sale of the firm, while also preparing for a potential flotation.
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Those talks, however, are understood to have failed after the US firm’s bid didn’t match expectations.
Deutsche Bahn last investigated a sale of Arriva in 2016, sparking a warning from unions that a ‘fire sale’ of the company would hit both jobs and services.
But the idea of partially floating the company was dropped after the EU referendum, with then Deutsche Bahn chief executive Ruediger Grube saying the collapse in the value of the pound following the Brexit vote would mean a sale of the company “would be throwing money out of the window - and acting that way would be foolish.”
Arriva was originally established as TSK Cowie in Sunderland in 1938 as a second-hand motorcycle dealer, before being relaunched as a car dealership with a vehicle hire division. It became involved in the bus sector following bus deregulation in the 1980s.
The company rebranded as Arriva in 1997 and was bought by Deutsche Bahn in 2010, when it was de-listed from the Stock Exchange.