Financial management system

In addition to sustainably increasing the value of the company, the financial management of DB Group also aims to maintain a capital structure that is appropriate for ensuring a very good credit rating. The maturity profile is a particularly important part of this management.

DB AG contains DB Group’s Treasury center. This ensures that all Group companies are able to borrow and invest funds at optimal terms and conditions. Before obtaining funds from external sources, we first conduct intra-Group financing transactions. When borrowing external funds, DB AG takes out short-term loans in its own name, whereas long-term capital is generally obtained through the Groupʼs financing company, DB Finance.

The funds are passed on to the Group companies as short-term credit lines, which can be utilized as part of cash pooling on internal current accounts and/or through fixed short-term credit, or in the form of long-term loans. Further advantages of this concept arise from the consolidation of our know-how, realized synergy effects and minimized refinancing costs.

• We have access to a European debt issuance program (EDIP) for long-term debt financing, the volume of which was increased in 2020. Ten senior bonds were issued un-der the EDIP in 2020 (total volume: € 5.3 billion). In contrast, senior bonds with a total volume of € 2.1 billion were redeemed. As a result, the utilization rate decreased slightly to about 78 % as of December 31, 2020 (as of December 31, 2019: about 81 %).
• We also have an Australian debt issuance program (Kangaroo Program). A bond was issued in 2020 under this program (volume: € 0.1 billion). As of December 31, 2020, the utilization rate rose to about 28 % (as of December 31, 2019: about 24 %).
• In the area of short-term debt financing, we still have a multi-currency commercial paper program available to us, which was not used as of December 31, 2020 (utilization rate as of December 31, 2019: about 30 %).
• As of December 31, 2020, we also had guaranteed credit facilities with a residual term of up to two years. These also include short-term credit lines agreed in 2020 in
  the amount of € 3.0 billion, which serve as intermediate funds for the Federal Government’s plan to strengthen the equity position of DB AG (bridge financing) and have almost been fully utilized.
• In addition, as of December 31, 2020, we were able to rely on credit lines of € 2.6 billion for the operating business (as of December 31, 2019: € 2.7 billion). These credit lines are made available to our subsidiaries around the world and include provisions for financing working capital as well as sureties for payment.

The leasing volume remained virtually unchanged. The cessation of the ARN franchise in March 2020 (about € 600 million) compensated for an increase due to new real estate contracts.

Two sale and leaseback agreements have been concluded for the financing of regional rail passenger transport vehicles:

• The lease contract for 18 new Siemens multiple units for the Lausitz network begins on December 11, 2022 (imputed term: 25 years). DB Regional is the lessee for the first transport contract period (13 years; nominal leasing volume: € 62 million). The financing is hedged by the pub­­­lic transport authority with a reuse guarantee and a transfer of receivables rather than a repayment guarantee, including a waiver of objection.
• The lease contract for 26 new Siemens multiple units for the Franconia-South Thuringia network runs from December 10, 2023 (imputed term: 24 years). DB Regional is the lessee for the first transport contract period (12 years; nominal leasing volume: € 179 million). The financing is hedged by the Free State of Bavaria through a capital service guarantee and a transfer rather than a repayment guarantee, free of objections.

Bonds issues

Senior bonds

¹⁾ Private placement.

In 2020, we issued 11 new senior bonds through the DB Group financing company DB Finance. The equivalent value of the transactions amounted to about € 5.4 billion. The funds were raised to refinance liabilities falling due and for ongo­­ing general Group financing. All revenues from senior bonds not issued in euros were converted into euros.

• Demand for the eight public issues under the EDIP (in EUR) came primarily from institutional investors from Europe and Asia.
• The private placements under the EDIP (in SEK and JPY) were placed with individual institutional investors.
• The demand for senior bonds under the Kangaroo program came from institutional investors in Japan.