Arriva Nederland sold to US venture capital group
Regional transport company Arriva, which operates train and bus services in the Netherlands, has been sold by owner Deutsche Bahn to an American investment house.
Deutsche Bahn has owned Arriva since 2010. The company has a workforce of some 5,500 in the Netherlands.
According to international news agency Reuters, I Squared Capital is paying some €1.6 billion for Arriva’s operations in all 10 European markets where it currently operates.
The German state-owned firm is selling its Arriva interests to focus on expansion at home.
“Today’s announcement is good news for the Arriva Group and for us as Arriva Nederland,” Dutch chief executive Anne Hettinga said.
However, the FNV-affiliated railway union told trade paper SpoorPro that the deal is bad news because “venture capitalists are only interested in making money.”
Arriva said last month it is appealing to the Dutch competition authority ACM in its quest to be allowed to take over 24 stop train services and two intercity routes from Dutch railway firm NS.
The routes are all part of what is considered to be the main Dutch railway network and therefore part of the package automatically allocated to NS, which is 100% state-owned.
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