VR Group buys Arriva Sweden from DB

[jamesontheroad]

Reported in a couple of places, including IRJ, that VR Group of Finland have agreed to buy Arriva's Swedish subsidiary from Arriva Group, itself a subsidiary of DB. The sum paid is not disclosed.

From that IRJ article:

With the transaction, VR Group says it will become a significant transport operator in Sweden. “As the Finnish market for public transport opens, the competition will increase and ensuring VR Group’s competitiveness will be crucial,” says Mr Lauri Sipponen, president and CEO of VR Group. “To ensure VR Group’s competitiveness our strategy is now to grow in the opening urban transport market in the Nordics.”

This means that in the Nordic region, Norwegian-state-owned Vy Gruppen operate trains in Sweden, Swedish-state-owned SJ operate trains in Norway (SJ Nord) and Denmark (Ø/Öresundståg), and Finnish-state-owned Vy will operate trains in Sweden.

Gotta love the free market!

 

[samulih]

Yeah, that is one of the strangest things in this, state owned players in free market.....

 

[py_megapixel]

Yeah, that is one of the strangest things in this, state owned players in free market.....

I think the principle makes quite a lot of sense to be honest. It means (in theory) that if the state is good at something then it ends up doing it, while if the private sector is better then it ends up doing it.

Of course, when a state-owned operator isn't owned by the state it's operating in, but actually by a different one, it falls down a bit I suppose.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

They might be state-owned, but they are operating commercially in another country.
It's no different from DB/Arriva owning Chiltern or Cross-Country here.
It doesn't mean (eg) the German government has any control over UK railways.
The operators just want to make a profit for their shareholders, and EU competition law allows, even encourages it.

 

[dutchflyer]

Nearly all those big operators in many countries-on the continent-are in fact in the end state-owned, and the best known besides ARRIVA are TransDEV and Keolis-both in the end by the FRench state.
In Sweden there is now a lot of VY.se (norwegian) whereas SJ (from Sweden) has some operations in Norway.
In Germany are also operating National Express and Go_Ahead.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Nearly all those big operators in many countries-on the continent-are in fact in the end state-owned, and the best known besides ARRIVA are TransDEV and Keolis-both in the end by the FRench state.
In Sweden there is now a lot of VY.se (norwegian) whereas SJ (from Sweden) has some operations in Norway.
In Germany are also operating National Express and Go_Ahead.

The EU's main aim has been to remove the monopoly of the incumbent state-owned operator, which it has largely achieved.
Also with SNCF operating domestically in Italy/Spain (with partners) and with Trenitalia operating independently in France.
All the regulators have to allow multiple operators and new starters.