Hamburg Ends Talks With Deutsche Bahn Over Headquarters Dispute
Bloomberg: Jan. 13
Hamburg's government ended talks on selling the city's ports and bus and subway network to Deutsche Bahn AG, Germany's state-owned railway, saying the train operator failed to meet conditions by dropping a plan to move its headquarters from Berlin.
Hamburg had asked Deutsche Bahn to shift all headquarters operations and top managers to the port city in exchange for selling Hamburger Hafen & Logistik AG and Hamburger Hochbahn AG, the city's senate said today. Deutsche Bahn said in an e-mailed statement yesterday that it didn't expect to move the entire headquarters away from Germany's capital city.
"From Hamburg's point of view, with these statements there is no basis for talks anymore,'' Hamburg Mayor Ole von Beust said today in a statement faxed to news organizations. "We therefore consider the talks with the board of Deutsche Bahn AG as over.''