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A finance ministry document seen by Reuters, which is due to
be approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet on Wednesday,
sketches out plans for holdings in a range of companies. A sale
of shares in rail operator Deutsche Bahn also remains an option,
it says.
The government had wanted to sell a stake in the railway in
Merkel's first term, but cancelled the plan when the global
financial crisis hit in 2008. Any sale now would depend on
market conditions, the document said.
Merkel's "grand coalition" government aims to balance the
federal budget next year for the first time since 1969 and a
share sale could help it do that at a time of slowing growth.
It could also free up billions of euros for public investments
as Merkel is under pressure from European partners and domestic
industry to spend more to stimulate the economy and shore up
Germany's crumbling infrastructure.
At Monday's closing share price, the government's 31.7 percent
stake in Deutsche Telekom -- which includes a 14.3 percent
direct stake and a 17.4 percent indirect holding via state bank
KfW -- was worth over 17 billion euros. Its 21 percent KfW-held
stake in Deutsche Post was worth over 6 billion euros.
The document, signed by Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble,
says a further sale of the Deutsche Telekom stake should be
"carefully examined", suggesting this may be one of the first
priorities.
Reuters reported back in February, citing sources, that KfW had
invited banks to make proposals for a placement of Telekom
shares, which have risen roughly 50 percent since early 2013.
Deutsche Post, whose shares rose 67 percent over the same
period, Deutsche Bahn and the Berlin/Brandenburg, Cologne/Bonn
and Munich airports are all listed as candidates for sale.
Any rail privatisation would exclude the infrastructure, the
document said. It did not set out a timetable for any of the
share sales.
Deutsche Telekom shares were up 1.88 percent at 12.5 euros after
the Reuters report on Tuesday, outperforming a 0.2 percent rise
in the DAX <.GDAXI> index of German blue chips.
(Additional reporting by Victoria Bryan; Writing by Noah Barkin;
Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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