Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing buys Eversholt Rail for £2.5bn

Eversholt Rail has been snapped up by Li Ka-shing who is Asia's richest man, meaning he now owns around a owns a third of the UK's trains.

 

CK Investments, which is jointly owned by two of his companies, paid £2.5bn to acquire Eversholt Rail from former owners 3i Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and STAR Capital Partners.

 

Eversholt Rail owns about 28 per cent of the UK's passenger train fleet, which it leases to 11 train operators. It has dominated the market, alongside Angel Trains and Porterbrook, since the government privatised railways back in 1994.

 

Li Ka-shing's latest acquisition adds to an already impressive portfolio, through which he controls Northumbrian Water and mobile phone network Three.

 

"Eversholt Rail has performed strongly, both operationally and financially, under its current ownership providing, managing and maintaining key U.K. rail assets," Mary Kenny, chief executive of Eversholt Rail, said. 

 

"We look forward to continuing our success with CKI, who have extensive experience in managing infrastructure assets and are highly supportive of our strategy and approach."

 

The sale of 3i's stake will generate around 358 million pounds, it said. A source told Reuters STAR, a London investment fund manager, would make a return of 3.4 times its investment.

 

3i Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and STAR Capital Partners bought Eversholt for £2.1bn from HSBC in 2010.