伦敦——亚洲首富李嘉诚(Li Ka-shing)在自己庞大的商业帝国中又增添了一家英国的大型客运列车供应商。这一帝国中本已包含了多座港口、公共事业公司及零售商铺。
周二，由李嘉诚联合拥有的CK Investments达成协议，从私募公司3i Infrastructure等投资者手中购入Eversholt Rail Group。
李嘉诚旗下的企业将支付25亿英镑（约合235亿元人民币），包含债务负担。
Eversholt Rail拥有英国约28%的客运列车，并将其租赁给了该国11家铁路运营商。这家企业同时还经营货运机车和汽车的租赁服务。
“Eversholt Rail一直表现良好，无论是运营上还是财务上。它在目前的拥有者旗下提供、管理并维护了关键的英国铁路资产，”公司首席执行官玛丽·肯尼(Mary Kenny)在新闻稿中表示。“我们期盼在CKI旗下继续取得成功。该公司在管理基建资产上拥有丰富的经验，并高度支持我们的战略与手法。”
这笔交易还有待监管部门的批准，计划于3月份完成。
2010年，包括3i Infrastructure、摩根士丹利基建合伙人基金(Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners)、STAR Capital Partners及其共同投资商PGGM在内的投资财团，收购了这家铁路集团。
3i Infrastructure表示，公司将因其股份获得3.58亿英镑的收益。
在做出出售决定时，公司“审慎地权衡了对方的报价与我们对业务潜力的评估，以及出售这项资产对我们投资组合的影响，”3i的董事长彼得·塞奇威克(Peter Sedgwick)在新闻稿中表示。（中国进出口网）
LonDON – Li Ka-shing, Asia’s richest man, has added a major passenger train provider in Britain to his vast empire of corporate holdings, which includes ports, utilities and retail stores.
CK Investments, which is jointly owned by two of Mr. Li’s companies, agreed on Tuesday to acquire the Eversholt Rail Group from the private equity firm 3i Infrastructure and other investors.
Mr. Li’s companies will pay 2.5 billion pounds, or about $3.8 billion, including the assumption of debt.
Eversholt Rail owns about 28 percent of Britain’s passenger train fleet, which it leases to 11 train operators in Britain. The company also leases freight locomotives and cars.
“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 in a news release. “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 transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in March.
A consortium of investors, including 3i Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and STAR Capital Partners with its co-investor PGGM, acquired the business in 2010.
3i Infrastructure said it would receive £358 million in proceeds for its stake.
In deciding to sell, the firm “carefully evaluated the price offered against our assessment of the potential for the business, as well as the impact on our investment portfolio of selling this investment,” Peter Sedgwick, the 3i chairman, said in a news release.
