EUROPE: German regional operator BeNEX is to acquire Abellio’s German subsidiary from Dutch national operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen. The transaction covers the shares in Germany held by ATH Rail Transport Beteiligungsgesellschaft Deutschland GmbH and includes Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland GmbH Halle (Saale) and Westfalenbahn GmbH Bielefeld, as well as service, cleaning and security company PTS GmbH Neuss.
Completion of the transaction will be subject to competition regulations and is expected in the second half of 2024. The companies have not disclosed the price of the transaction, but the deal follows completion of a restructuring plan at Abellio implemented after insolvency proceedings in 2021.
Abellio’s operations in Germany cover 28 routes totalling 3 200 km in eight Länder. A fleet of 120 trainsets is used to operate 25∙5 million train-km annually and 1 600 staff are employed. Turnover in 2023 was €400m.
Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland has a head office in Halle (Saale) and has run the Saale-Thüringen-Südharz network since December 2015 and Dieselnetz Sachsen-Anhalt since December 2018. Routes include Halle to Saalfeld and Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Leipzig to Erfurt and Eisenach, and Magdeburg to Wolfsburg; the company deploys a fleet of 92 trainsets.
Westfalenbahn, headquartered in Bielefeld, has run local rail services in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Niedersachsen since 2007, with routes serving Emden, Rheine, Münster, Bielefeld, Minden, Hannover and Braunschweig. It uses a fleet of 28 EMUs that are maintained in Minden and Rheine.
BeNEX joint Managing Director Johann von Georg said ‘we see the Abellio takeover as a great opportunity and as a responsibility for sustainable development of regional rail service in Germany’. Michael von Mallinckrodt, also Managing Director at BeNEX, noted that the acquisition means that the company now has seven regional rail businesses in its portfolio. ‘With the expanded group of companies, we can meet the various challenges in the current market environment even better and create synergies for further profitable growth’, he added.
Abellio’s Chief Executive Officer in Germany Rolf Schafferath said that ‘we look forward to having BeNEX as a shareholder at our side in the future who wishes to play a decisive role in shaping the transition of transport in Germany. For our staff, our passengers and our transport authority, the arrival of BeNEX means long-term planning security and a new growth perspective.’
NS was advised by Watson Farley & Williams on the sale to BeNEX. The sale marks the end of NS’s involvement in railway businesses operating wholly outside the Netherlands.
