US finance group possible bidder for Railtrack
Babcock & Brown, the US finance group, has emerged as a possible bidder for all or part of Railtrack, the privatised UK rail network operator. The group has been considering financing packages for Railtrack for months.
The proposals, which considered ways that areas of Railtrack could be financed more cost-effectively, had not reached formal discussions when Railtrack was put into administration three weeks ago.
Stephen Byers, the transport secretary, will soon set out guidelines for potential bidders for Railtrack.
Babcock & Brown could then work its ideas into a more formal proposal, to be put to the government or Railtrack’s management.
This could comprise a bid for all of Railtrack or certain assets, but Babcock & Brown is more closely associated with large refinancing deals.
The US group on Sunday said: “We have been looking at [Railtrack] for several months. We are keenly interested, but given the political situation over the last couple of weeks we have to wait for certain issues to be resolved.”
WestLB, the state-backed German bank, has already put forward a takeover approach for Railtrack.
Babcock & Brown operates in some of the most technical and least high-profile areas of finance: originating, arranging and managing large asset-based and project-based financings and acquisitions. Last year it arranged financings of more than $23bn. One of the areas in which it has particular experience is transport.
It hit the limelight this year, when, with Chancery Lane Capital, it launched an £8bn offer for British Telecommunications’ local telephone infrastructure.
It also received attention when it linked with Nomura Principle Finance to bid for Angel Train Contracts, the UK’s largest rolling stock leasing company.
