[AnthonyDunn]

@ SergeantMajor – 05/12/2013 15:40 GMT

I doubt that Hollande’s rock-bottom approval ratings will have any bearing at all on this issue. What will do is the rating agencies scoring of French sovereign debt which, I believe, has just been ratcheted down a further notch. That and the fact that the French state consumes a greater proportion of GDP than any other advanced economy.

Beyond that, the role of the French state in aiding the formation of impressively strong companies is something that perhaps we could do with emulating in the UK rather than denigrating? If you want to look at what state support and under-pinnings can do, look no further than Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Air. I am very shortly going to be returning to the twin issues of the funding and ownership of the former.

[transtraxman]

If the UK Gov. is hell bent on selling its 40% share of Eurostar then I would be happy if the beneficiaries benefit (by definition of course).

The beneficiaries on this side of the Channel are principally;
-the owners of HS1 (London & Continental ??)
-the TOCS (Train Operating Companies) which obtain the ongoing traffic
-TfL (Transport for London)
The users/passengers are also beneficiaries but I think would not enter directly into this shareholding as they can invest in the other PLCs.
I would suggest the three rail company groupings each receive a proportion of the shares and locked into Eurostar PLC. That way the British public´s interests would more than likely be protected against speculative vultures or narrow statist interests. If the UK Gov. is going to resign its interest and responsibilities then let the UK rail industry protect them.
Only an Idea.

[canucklad]

Just re-read the title of this thread……

If the “Dead hand of State” hadn’t been in a zombie comatose state they might have intervened earlier to stop a small minority of greedy gamblers from dragging our banking sector into the proverbial poo!

Oh. I forgot. If they had put controls into place to stop the equivalent of the City ladela boys playing the roulette machine you find in High street bookies , our economy wouldn’t need to sell off it’s assets akin to some poor devil flogging his jewellery in a Cash for Gold envelope.

Oh, and almost forgot….get handsomely rich, or richer at the same time by their sheer abdication of governance !

apologies for the rant !

[AnthonyDunn]

@ canucklad – 05/12/2013 16:31 GMT

+1

[AMcWhirter]

Looks as though France’s SNCF will buy the UK’s 40 per cent stake. It already owns 55 per cent of Eurostar.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/08/eurostar-paris-not-much-longer?CMP=twt_gu

[BigDog.]

I didn’t see that one coming Alex, especially as the French coffers are somewhat compromised.

SergeantMajor – 05/12/2013 12:48 GMT
.. Should raise several billions for the Treasury (us). Will be interesting whether France and Belgium decide to sell their stakes, too…

Analysts suggest the British stake will fetch around £120m-£200m – Where do you get several billions from??

Another sagacious call and accurate thread title SM/VK, best stick to merely regurgitating the BA sales info ticker 😉

[SergeantMajor]

£20bn was referenced in the article I linked to, and somewhat misleadingly refers to the entireplanned take from privatisation of infrastructure planned by this government, of which this forms a part.

£200m does seem low, it’s less than the subsidy given out annually to ScotRail.

Where on earth will SNCF get the money to buy this from – a real shame it isn’t sold off to the private sector.

[SimonS1]

“The sell-off, first mooted by the coalition in 2010, was part of a doubled target for state asset sales to £20bn.”

Another cracker there VK, proving how adept you are at posting a good headline without apparently actually reading the articles you post. Doesn’t really sound that misleading to me.

The French have done a great job at acquiring a good chunk of the UK electricity and water networks so why not add transport to it. The fact that they were (according to the Guardian) the sole bidder suggests it wasn’t a winner financially.

[SimonS1]

“The sell-off, first mooted by the coalition in 2010, was part of a doubled target for state asset sales to £20bn.” (according to the Guardian).

Another cracker there VK, proving how adept you are at posting a good headline without apparently actually reading the articles you post. Doesn’t really sound that misleading to me. Why do so many things you post have to have some form of distortion in them?

The French have done a great job at acquiring a good chunk of the UK electricity and water networks so why not add transport to it. The fact that they were (according to the Guardian) the sole bidder suggests it wasn’t a winner financially.

[AMcWhirter]

It’s logical for SNCF given the fact that Eurostar feeds so many passengers onto its network. Visit eurostar.com and you’ll see that ticketing opportunities are offered to dozens of destinations in France compared with just a handful elsewhere.

[SergeantMajor]

I s’pose. Still a shame the dead hand of the State will still be a major shareholder.

Let’s hope it’s priced correctly…

I recall BA had a financial interest in London & Continental a while ago…so technically owned part of Eurostar.

[transtraxman]

Yes, SM/VK but that is history.
BA has had 25% stakes in United Airlines, US Airways and Qantas but these were liquidated for many different reasons – basically to obtain liquidity for the parent company.
Life goes on.

[SimonS1]

Indeed if random comments are in order, BA also had a stake in London Eye which it sold some time ago to strengthen its balance sheet.

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