symbolic purchase

On 1 July 1996, the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) took over the museum from the Deutsche Bundesbahn for the symbolic purchase price of one deutschmark.

In December 2008, as their first UK acquisition, the business was purchased from Aviva by the German private equity company Arques Industries AG, a business restructuring and development specialist, for a "symbolic purchase price".

"What we are worried about are unwise symbolic purchases, especially if things are bought in ways that would create a lot of negative reactions," said Risaburo Nezu, the director of the international affairs bureau at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, one of the many agencies making sure the message gets across.