In 2021, Renfe carried out the acquisition of 50% of the operator Leo Express following the share capital increase of the Czech company.
The acquisition of a holding in Leo Express represents a strategic business opportunity for Renfe, as it will mean having a presence in three European countries in which Leo Express operates (Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) and having the resources and licences to access the German market.
Likewise, the acquisition allows Renfe to bid, through Leo Express, for new PSO tenders in these markets, since it has local presence and capacity, experience, equipment and references in these countries, often essential to be able to compete.
Leo Express is a private company that began operating in 2012 in the Czech Republic and, since then, has been expanding its open access services by extending them to neighbouring countries such as Slovakia and Poland. It also has experience in Germany where, until the start of the pandemic, it had been operating a long-distance open access service between Berlin and Stuttgart, in cooperation with another private operator.
One of the business areas where Leo Express seeks to grow is the Public Service Obligation (PSO) services market. In this regard, the company is already executing PSO contracts in the Czech Republic as the successful bidder. In addition, after Renfe's entry into the capital, Leo Express was awarded a 9-year OSP contract in Slovakia, in the Danube region, to operate the line linking Bratislava and Komárno, which has meant that the company's production and business volume has practically doubled.