On the go: Eurostar shareholders including Hermes Infrastructure are working with the government to explore funding options for the transport company as it struggles to navigate the coronavirus crisis.
Hermes Infrastructure has held a 10 per cent stake in the Channel Tunnel rail company since 2015 and holds the asset on behalf of several UK public and private sector pension funds.
The Financial Times reported this week that Eurostar had appealed for UK government funding to support “the green gateway to Europe”.
“We are encouraged by the government-backed loans that have been awarded to airlines and would once again ask that this kind of support be extended to international high-speed rail,” the company said.
Hermes Infrastructure — whose parent company Federated Hermes is part-owned by the BT Pension Scheme — invested in Eurostar alongside Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in 2015 when the UK government sold its stake. Eurostar’s other main shareholders are the French and Belgian state-owned railway companies SNCF and SNCB.
Eurostar shareholders have already provided €200m (£178m) in emergency funding to the company, according to the Financial Times.
A spokesperson for Hermes Infrastructure told Pensions Expert: “On behalf of our UK investor base of local government and corporate pension schemes, we are working closely with other shareholders and the UK government to find solutions to sustain Eurostar in the short term.
“This is a robust asset providing a vital transport link that has excellent sustainable credentials, including its goal for introducing alternatives to fossil fuel energy for all train journeys across its markets by 2030.”
The Department for Transport said it had been “engaging extensively” with Eurostar since the start of the pandemic, and pledged to “continue to work closely with them as we support the safe restart and recovery of international travel”.
