Britain Sells Its Stake In Eurostar
LONDON, March 4 (UPI) — The British government confirmed the sale of its stake in Eurostar, the cross-English Channel train service.
The government’s 40 percent investment will be sold for 757 million pounds ($1,157,000), a sale price higher than expected when offers were accepted in October 2014.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, chief of the country’s treasury department, called it “a fantastic deal for U.K. taxpayers that exceeds expectations.” The investment was sold to a Canadian pension fund, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, and the British infrastructure fund Hermes Infrastructure, for 585.1 million pounds ($895 million). Redemption of government bonds will raise another 172 million pounds ($263 million).
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Osborne commented, “Investing in the best quality infrastructure for Britain, getting the best value for money for the taxpayer and tackling our country’s debts are key parts of our long-term economic plan, and in today’s agreement, we are delivering on all three.”
Eurostar began service to and from Europe in 1994, with over 10 million passengers in 2014. The rest of the business is owned by SNCF, the state-owned French rail service, and the Belgian government.
While government leaders hailed the sale, British railway union leaders assailed it. Manuel Cortes of the TSSA (Transport Salaried Staff Assn.) said, “The reason that France and Belgium already own the majority stake in Eurostar is that they believe in running a publicly owned railway for the benefit of everybody. One-eyed Osborne, on the other hand, prefers the private English model where fat cat bosses are at the front of the queue, way ahead of the passengers.”
Mick Cash of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) added, “The news today that the Government has reached a deal to sell off the British slice of our cash-generating Eurostar assets, before the May election is pure Thatcherite industrial vandalism, that makes us a laughing stock across Europe”.
