Denmark's DSV wins 14 billion-euro race for Deutsche Bahn's Schenker, sources say

BERLIN (Reuters) -Danish logistics company DSV won the race to buy Schenker, the rail logistics arm of German state railway Deutsche Bahn, sources at the railway and at the German government said.

The sources said a preliminary contract for the transaction, worth some 14 billion euros ($15.43 billion), would be signed in coming days. The deal must be approved by DB's supervisory board, mainly comprising government, parliamentary and union representatives.

Financial investor CVC was the other contender remaining in the race to buy Schenker, which has more than 70,000 employees in 1,850 locations worldwide, some 15,000 of them in Germany.

The board is due to meet in an extraordinary session in coming days to approve the deal.

Union representatives on the board had opposed DSV's bid, which was slightly higher than CVC's, because they expected it to result in more lost jobs, the sources said. The government, in its capacity as owner, won out, they added.

A spokesperson for DB declined to comment. DSV said it did not comment on market rumours.

DSV's acquisition of Schenker would be the most costly for a Danish firm to date. It would propel it above Swiss group Kuehne und Nagel in both volume and revenue, making it the leading freight forwarder globally, according to brokerage Sydbank.

Deutsche Bahn is selling Schenker, its most profitable unit, to finance investment in its crisis-struck core domestic passenger business and to help wittle down the railway's 30-billion-euro debt mountain.

DSV has expanded significantly through several acquisitions in recent years, including American UTi, Swiss Panalpina and Kuwaiti Global Integrated Logistics (GIL), with a primary focus on enhancing the company's air and sea operations.

($1 = 0.9076 euros)

(Reporting by Markus Wacket; Writing by Thomas EscrittEditing by Chris Reese; Editing by Richard Chang)