This article is more than 3 years old

HS1 owners consider sale after receiving offers

   This article is more than 3 years old

   Deal by Canada’s Borealis and Ontario Teachers is unlikely to affect
   day-to-day services on the high-speed line

   Gwyn Topham
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   HS1 owns and manages four stations on its route, including St Pancras
   in London.

   [ ] HS1 owns and manages four stations on its route, including St
   Pancras in London. Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty Images

   The pension funds that own the company running Britain’s only
   high-speed railway, HS1, are considering a sale after receiving a
   number of offers.

   The Canadian investors, Borealis and Ontario Teachers, have announced a
   strategic review of their ownership of HS1 Ltd, which operates and
   manages the line on a 30-year concession until 2040.

   Any sale is not expected to affect the day-to-day operation of services
   on HS1, which has been performing in line with investors’ expectations.

Chris Grayling unveils plans for fully privatised rail line
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   HS1 is the 67-mile stretch of railway linking London to the Channel
   tunnel, on which both Eurostar and high-speed Southeastern services
   operate. Network Rail is subcontracted to manage the rail
   infrastructure, while HS1 owns and manages four of the stations on the
   route, with significant commercial income including retail at the
   flagship St Pancras International in London.
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   A source said neither Borealis or Teachers had been looking to sell but
   had been approached by a number of potential investors “kicking the
   tyres” of HS1. The review could end with no sale, or the sale of a
   stake, but the Canadian owners, while traditionally long-term
   investors, are assessing the scale of other potential interest.
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   in 2010. They also now own stakes in London City airport, as part of
   the consortium that bid in the £2bn takeover this year. Teachers has a
   HS1 share in Bristol and Birmingham airports, while Borealis is an
   investor in Associated British Ports.

   HS1 is the UK’s only high-speed railway to date. Parliament is expected
   to fully ratify plans for the London-Birmingham first phase of HS2
   early in 2017, and the government may yet look at a similar concession
   model for the rail infrastructure.
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