GLIL Infrastructure is buying a 30% stake in a rolling stock fleet of trains which operate out of London King鈥檚 Cross and connect with cities across the north of England and Scotland.
The 拢1.8bn (鈧�2bn) infrastructure fund backed by a number of UK local government pension schemes is paying Hitachi Rail an undisclosed sum for the equity stake in Agility Trains East (ATE), the partnership which owns 65 new intercity trains.
ATE was established in partnership with the UK鈥檚 department for transport to develop the Intercity Express Programme (IEP), an initiative to replace the country鈥檚 fleet of intercity-class trains with a new reliable and efficient fleet.
In September, John Laing announced the sale of its 30% interest in the IEP project to AIP Management for a total cash consideration of up to 拢421m.
Upon completion, Hitachi Rail will hold a 40% stake in ATE with GLIL and AIP owning a 30% stake each.
Jonathan Ord, investment director at GLIL Infrastructure, said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e invested in the impressive ATE fleet to support that goal, but also to provide reliable and sustainable returns for our pension members for many years to come.
鈥漁ur very long-term investment horizon offers further assurance to this environmentally sustainable infrastructure asset.鈥�
Dan Phillips, chief strategy officer at Hitachi Rail, said: 鈥淎s we focus on our role as a full-service provider of rail infrastructure, we are pleased that GLIL sees the long-term investment value of Agility Trains East and we look forward to welcoming them as a shareholder.
鈥漌e will continue to maintain and operate the fleet for the remaining 27.5 years of the contract; there will be no impact on day-to-day operation of the railways as a result of this transaction.鈥�
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