Abbey And HSBC Rail Set To Offload ROSCOS

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Two-thirds of Britain^s trains are set to change hands for a total of about ^4 billion as banks seek to raise further capital by selling assets (links below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2008/10/abbey_and_hsbc_rail_set_to_off.html#more

http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/2008/10/foreign-rail.html

Abbey, owned by Spain^s Santander, is poised to sell its train-leasing arm Porterbrook to Deutsche Bank in a ^2 billion deal that could be announced as early as this week.

HSBC Rail could also be sold in another ^2 billion deal, after its parent company, HSBC, appointed two sets of advisers to auction it. The deal will be handled by NM Rothschild, the investment bank, and HSBC^s own investment-banking arm.

Porterbrook has a fleet of 5,500 vehicles, including electric and diesel locomotives, high-speed trains, and freight wagons. It leases trains to 17 of the 24 UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train operators.

HSBC Rail has more than 4,000 vehicles, including the inter-city trains used by National Express on the east coast mainline between London and Edinburgh.

Britain^s remaining 4,500 trains are owned by Angel Trains, sold this year by Royal Bank of Scotland to the Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown for ^3.6 billion.

[Timmer]

I know someone who could buy them...the government! They are in a spend spend spend mood at the moment so why not nationalise the nations rolling stock?

They could then lease the stock at a price that they feel is an acceptable rather than what the ROSCOs^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) currently charge for ex BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) stock in return for less subsidy/higher premiums in the long term.

[Lee]

Bearing in mind that Network Rail is effectively state-controlled, an interesting theoretical extension to your concept would be to take the franchises in-house when they expire, or if/when they default. You could then set up an agency to run it all.

Not sure what you'd call it, though.....

[John R]

No doubt the government would spend millions on consultants to come up with a name. You can imagine the scene...

"Let's think, first we need something that reflects the wide geographical spread of the network, and then something to reflect what it is the business does. And it needs to be short and snappy."

How about "  B^r  "?

[Lee]

Deutsche Bank, Lloyds TSB and BNP^▸ (Barnstaple) Paribas have struck one of the largest buyouts deals of the year by agreeing to acquire Porterbrook Leasing for ^1.4bn (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2008/10/deutscheled_club_seals_14bn_po.html#more

Rail operators are concerned that the programme to buy new carriages could be delayed because of the sales (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2008/10/rail_operators_fear_delays_to.html#more

[Super Guard]

Article from The Times.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5014551.ece

[Lee]

Further related link.
http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/2008/10/porterbrook-flogged.html