German FinMin questions Deutsche Bahn IPO timing

By Matthias Sobolewski

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has for the first time raised questions over the timing of this month's planned partial privatization of German rail operator Deutsche Bahn DBN.UL, set to be its biggest initial public offering in eight years.

"At some point, one has to consider whether now is the right time," Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said on Monday, referring to turmoil on global financial markets.

Deutsche Bahn has set October 27 as the first day of trading for shares in its DB Mobility Logistics, its passenger transport, logistics and service business unit.

Steinbrueck said he did not want to damage the preparations for the IPO and noted some strategic investors, who had been not so badly hit by the financial crisis, were interested in buying shares.

However, the time would come when a decision would be taken on whether a "Plan B" would come into effect, he said.

Shares representing 24.9 percent of Deutsche Bahn's Mobility Logistics unit are due to be offered to private and institutional investors inside Germany and to institutional investors abroad through a private placement.

Analysts have scaled back their estimates for the amount they expect to be raised through the IPO to around 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion), compared with as much as 8 billion originally.

The global market for IPOs collapsed in the third quarter of this year in its worst performance since early 2003, data from Thomson Reuters shows.

(Reporting by Matthias Sobolewski; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by David Holmes)