Thursday 4 November 2010

HSBC's Eversholt sold - Banks out!

This from AltAssets.com...

A consortium of infrastructure investors has acquired UK rolling stock company Eversholt Rail Group from banking group HSBC.

Comprising 3i Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and STAR Capital Partners, the consortium is to acquire the whole group, which owns one third of UK rolling stock, in a deal valuing it at £2.1bn (€2.4bn). The payment is to be made with a mix of debt and equity.

None of the three major Roscos is now owned by a bank.

Eye wonders how much new trains will now cost?

Insults fly in advance of Golden Spanners - Shocker

This from an email invite to the Fourth Friday Club 'Golden Spanners' awards...

We have a large number of sponsored tables and members of the Club are invited to attend the event, where the cream of the rolling stock community will be present.

What can Modern Railways be suggesting.

"Cream of the rolling stock community"?

As in rich and thick?*

*With a bowler tip to Brian Souter, who used this line against himself at today's DDRF annual conference

IEP - Baker cooks up a deal

This from Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road
According to Financial Times Political Correspondent, Jim Pickard, the DfT is using the threat of Sir Andrew Foster's credible alternatives to extract a better deal from Agility Trains.

So let's get this straight.

DfT thinks that saving money on a train that no-one in the railway industry wants is a better deal?

Germans bomb at Palace again

Oh dear.

Does Eye detect a degree of Palace dissatisfaction with the operator of the Royal Train?

This from the Mail on Sunday...

The man dubbed Mr Royal Train after playing a key role in helping it to run smoothly for more than 30 years has been made redundant after a German company took over its maintenance.

Strange that this story should surface almost four months after Deutsche Reichsbahn disinvented Mr Hillyard, presumably without consulting Brenda?

No matter.

After all what is Balmoral to Berlin?

But just to be on the safe side perhaps DB shouldn't make a large order for Royal Warrant embossed stationery?

UPDATE: This from Our International Correspondent...

Just to put the Daily Mail’s “scoop” into context, as every PR fule noes, when investigating a leak, follow the money.

In this case a little bit of forensics leads us not to the Palace, or to any disinvented ex-Railcare people who miss 1X01, but to the publishers of a new book.

Its author, Brian Hoey, is represented by one Gordon Wise, whose website helpfully informs us that the film rights may be available.

Not so much a Daily Mail scoop, as an obliging puff piece to help sales.


First for being inconsistant

Compare and contrast...

This in today's Glasgow Herald...

New FirstGroup chief executive Tim O’Toole has dismissed Stagecoach founder Brian Souter’s call to have trains and tracks run by the same people as unrealistic.

With this from a certain Tim O'Toole when MD of London Underground...

"If you had complete vertical integration, one person would be responsible for everything, whereas with the PPP an awful lot of time and energy is spent just keeping score."

Just fancy that!

Surely nothing to do with one particular "thinly capitalised equity profiteer of the worst kind" being saddled with a mountain of debt?