London & Continental Railaways the £5.7bn Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which today is formally opened by the Queen, has received a number of break-up enquiries in the last few days. Daily Telegraph
Rob Holden, chief executive said the looming opening of the high-speed line had generated renewed interest, mainly from infrastructure funds.
“With the publicity in the last few days, there have been one or two people on the phone asking what is happening,” said Holden.
Enquiries have come from similar parties to those who last year expressed interest in an auction of LCR, triggered by an approach from Sir Adrian Montague in conjunction with Goldman Sachs.
At the time, Macquarie, Babcock & Brown, Deutsche Bank and Network Rail also registered interest.
Holden said: “Arguably we have three very different businesses with very different risk profiles. One way forward is to split the business up.”
He is working with officials from the Department for Transport with a view to making a joint proposal to ministers next year, but does not envisage an auction until 2009.
