THE identity of the new owner of High Speed 1 may be revealed this week, after bidding closed on Friday.
The government is selling the line, which was known for many years as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, to help reduce the national debt.
The favourite contender is a consortium led by Eurotunnel, whose partners include the American investment bank Goldman Sachs and fund manager M&G.
Three other consortia are also understood to have made offers. One is a combination of the German insurance group Allianz, the BT pension fund and a Canadian pension fund.
Another group includes American investment bank Morgan Stanley, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and 3i Infrastructure.
The fourth is a bidder backed by two more Canadian pension funds and Borealis Infrastructure.
It does not appear that the German state-owned operator Deutsche Bahn is included in any of the bidding teams, although this had been predicted.
DB is planning to run trains to London by 2013 at the latest. An example of its ICE-3 trains went on display at St Pancras in October.
HS1 buyer set to be named this week
1st November 2010
