Two big Canadian pension funds have won a GBP2.1 billion
contract for a high-speed rail link connecting London with the
Channel Tunnel.
Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of
Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, or OMERS, and
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTP.YY) said early Friday they were
the winning bidders in the British government's auction for the
rail network, called High Speed 1.
The contract is a result of a process that started in June when
the British goverment announced the start of a competition to sell
a 30-year concession to own and operate the 68-mile high-speed rail
network.
People familiar with the matter had told Dow Jones earlier this
week that at least two other groups had submitted offers. One was
to have included Eurotunnel PLC (GET.FR) and two of its
shareholders, Infracapital and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).
Another was said to include Morgan Stanley's (MS) infrastructure
fund, 3i Group PLC's (III.LN) infrastructure fund and the Abu Dhabi
Investment Authority.
Websites: www.omers.com, www.borealis.ca
-By Judy McKinnon, Dow Jones Newswires; 416-306-2100;
judy.mckinnon@dowjones.com