Handelsblatt reports, “Germany’s Federal Minister of Transport . . . is offering for sale shares in Toll Collect, a relatively unknown and small company with a big perspective. The company . . . is responsible for collecting the government’s toll on trucks. . . . It contributed €4.6 billion [US $4.87 billion] to the state coffers in 2016, which generated profits of €116 million [US$122.7 million] for Toll Collect.” The company’s current operating agreement expires in August 2018, and the next term’s “highly confidential and secretive award procedure” is already underway. The newspaper adds that in addition to the members of the current operating consortium (Deutsche Telekom, Daimler and Cofiroute), participants include IBM, Abertis, Autostrade, Skytoll, the Continental tire company and AGES. IBM, Abertis and Continental are said to be making a joint offer.
