Lancs pension fund in line for Eurostar stake
LANCASHIRE County Council’s pension fund has emerged as a contender for a 40% stake in Eurostar.
The £5.7bn fund for the county’s workers is in the running for the slice of the Channel tunnel firm after it was put on the market by Chancellor George Osborne for £400m.
The local authority pension fund, with about 151,000 working and retired members, was named by The Sunday Times as a potential bidder.
Competitors it will go up against include a consortium of 3i and Predica, a division of Crédit Agricole, British pension fund USS and Canada’s CDPQ, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and EDF in France.
Investment bank UBS was appointed to run the sale by the Government in October and the first bids were submitted late in 2014.
The reports said it was unclear whether Lancashire had teamed up with an infrastructure fund for the bid.
Lancashire invested £12m in a solar power station two years ago and teamed up with the London Pension Fund Authority to form a £10m investment kitty in December.
French rail company SNCF, which owns 55% of Eurostar, and the Belgian government, (5%), are believed to be unlikely to bid for Britain’s stake, although they reportedly have a right to offer a 15% premium to any bid.
Two years ago Lancashire invested in a £12m solar power station. In December it teamed up with the London Pensions Fund Authority to create a £10bn pooled investment kitty.
