Transdev will soon go under a foreign flag. The German group Rethmann, already holding 34% of its capital, will increase to 66%. And the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC), current majority shareholder, will go from 66% to 34% at the end of the operation, the two parties indicated this Monday, December 16. A reversal of forces which resembles a deprivation for the competitor of RATP and Keolis.
“Caisse des Dépôts will remain an involved shareholder attentive to the success of Transdev”assured in the press release Olivier Sichel, the deputy general director of the CDC, which acquired a stake in Transdev in 2017.
Privatization of Transdev: Meridiam and Rethmann in the starting blocks
The price of the transaction has not yet been communicated. This operation must now go through an information and consultation procedure with Transdev staff representative bodies. It is also carried out under the control of the Commission for Participations and Transfers, an independent authority. It should therefore be “carried out during the year 2025”according to the press release.
“Shareholder continuity”
Rethmann is committed to retaining the current management team. “We will continue the tremendous momentum started in 2019 (year when the group entered the capital, Editor’s note)which allowed Transdev to establish itself as a champion of mobility in the world, based in France”declared the chairman of the board of directors of Rethmann France, and director of the family group, Ludger Rethmann.
The German group owns several companies across the Rhine, specializing in water management, recycling, logistics and the agri-food industry. Since its creation in 1934, its head office has been located in Selm, in North Rhine-Westphalia, a German region located in the west of the country, not far from the border with the Netherlands.
Other candidates had shown their interest in Transdev. Notably the French investment fund Meridiam. This little-known giant – $26 billion in assets under management – designs, finances and manages transport infrastructure on five continents. Among which are the Tours-Bordeaux or Nîmes-Montpellier TGV lines or the first sub-Saharan African electric bus network in Dakar, Senegal. But the French offer clearly did not win the votes against the German one. The CDC explained that it opted for Rethmann to guarantee “the shareholder continuity of Transdev”she specifies in her press release.
“Its attachment to the development of the activity and the maintenance of the head office in France” was also taken into account, it is indicated.
Win-win
If the CDC wishes to disengage from the public carrier, it is not for economic reasons. Transdev, which employs more than 100,000 people around the world, achieved a sharp increase in turnover last year, to 9.3 billion euros. But the public establishment believes that it is no longer “the best majority shareholder”, since Transdev's activity today takes place mainly outside France (more than 71% of its activity). The company has, for example, become the largest private public transport operator in North America, thanks to the acquisition of the American company First Transit in 2023.
“It is an asset which has significant value in a sector which is very particular”underlined the director general of the CDC, Éric Lombard, last week.
By selling its shares, the CDC is preparing to “make a deal, let’s say, interesting for us as shareholders”added the leader. With the promise that the buyer would be known “before Christmas”. Outfit.
(With AFP)
