The purchase of the private regional operator, which operates primarily in Germany with some cross-border services to the Czech Republic, was approved under the European Union’s (EU) simplified merger review procedure.

Trenitalia purchased the shares from its former partner, Cube Infrastructure Fund, a Luxembourg-based investment fund specialising in infrastructure and public services.

Trenitalia and Cube purchased Netinera from German Rail (DB) for €350m in 2011, under a 51:49 ownership arrangement. Netinera, formerly Arriva Deutschland, was divested by DB to comply with European competition rules following DB’s purchase of Arriva the previous year.

Cube reportedly appointed Rothschild in February 2019 as sales agent to sell its share of Netinera, with a valuation reported of between €650m and €800m. However, no sale occurred.

Netinera has grown substantially since 2011 when it inherited 207 trains, 830 buses and 2685 employees. The operator now has 383 trains, owned both directly and through joint ventures, 1178 buses and 5437 employees. The company reported a turnover of €598.8m in 2019.