Railway Privatisation: Volksaktie (people's stock) or Normal IPO?

Deutsche Bahn AG, a company currently owned by the federal government, is to be partly privatised. Most policy-makers agree on this point but not on how privatisation should be implemented. Dirk Ehlers, University of Münster, discusses the five privatisation variants that are under discussion and subjects them to a critical examination. He maintains that the strategy pursued by the legislators up to now - to privatise DB AG under retention of an integrated railway under common control - is not in accord with the German constitution because of the effects on the expansion and the maintenance of the track network - unless non-voting preference shares are issued and assurance can be given that voting rights do not re-emerge. For Otto Wiesheu, Deutsche Bahn AG, the railway reform "that was implemented in 1994 with a clear affirmation of competition and privatisation and in whose wake DB AG succeeded in the transition to a competitive and future-oriented enterprise with a good outlook for its employees is now being led to an absurd conclusion with a half-baked privatisation model à la Volksaktie. The diffuse picture that results when one examines the Volksaktie model more closely, leads one to conclude that its proponents are more interested in completely preventing a capital privatisation of DB AG." Gerd Aberle, University of Gießen, regards the economic results of the past years and the successful positioning of DB AG as an internationally active mobility service provider as a prerequisite for a successful IPO. For attracting new capital via an IPO especially institutional investors must be addressed who are seeking a secure longer-term capital investment with acceptable yields.