Germany's finance ministry is drawing up plans to privatize the country's air traffic control company DFS next year, with the proceeds to help finance the budget, the weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported. In its newest issue due out on news stands on Monday, the Hamburg- based weekly cited internal documents at the ministry which are to be put forth for discussion at a meeting next week of budget planners in the Social Democrat-Greens coalition in Berlin. The Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS) limited-liability company, based in the central town of Langen, near Frankfurt, is currently 100 per cent owned by the federal state. It has 5,400 employees. The ministry estimates the sale of DFS would generate hundreds of millions of euros in proceeds, Der Spiegel said. The report did not say who a prospective buyer might be. --SP 1409 Local Time 1109 GMT
