FRANKFURT (Reuters) - State-owned German rail operator Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] will decide on a partial sale of its Arriva and Schenker businesses in February at the earliest, the daily Stuttgarter Zeitung reported on Tuesday, citing company sources.
Deutsche Bahn, which put plans for a stock market flotation on ice in 2008, is set to announce a sweeping restructuring this week and is looking at ways to raise money in the face of increasing competition from foreign railway groups and domestic long-distance bus lines.
Stuttgarter Zeitung said the supervisory board would discuss the restructuring and job cuts but not asset sales at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
Sources told Reuters last month that talks to sell minority stakes in Arriva, which operates Deutsche Bahn's passenger transport business outside Germany, and the Schenker logistics arm had stalled due to disagreements between the government and company over how to split the proceeds.
Deutsche Bahn declined to comment on supervisory board decisions.
Arriva, which Deutsche Bahn bought for 1.6 billion pounds in 2010, posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 498 million euros (£360.7 million) on sales of 4.5 billion euros in 2014.
British peers such as Stagecoach (L:SGC) and National Express (L:NEX) trade at 6.5 to 7 times their core earnings. If it fetched a similar multiple, Arriva as a whole would be valued at up to 3.5 billion euros in any potential deal.
Deutsche Bahn, one of Germany's biggest employers with nearly 200,000 workers, is heading for its first annual net loss in more than a decade this year.
According to media reports, it is considering measures including freight capacity cuts, the transfer of night train routes, and the closure of depots where trains are repaired in a bid to return to profit.