UK Gov't Sells 40% Share in Eurostar Railway Service to Cut National Debt

The UK government has sold its 40 percent share in the high-speed rail service Eurostar as part of a plan to raise 20 billion pounds ($31 billion) by the year 2020 to cut the national debt, according to a statement published on the UK government's website on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Britain's stake in Eurostar was sold for 757 million pounds, which is almost double the sum expected when the sale was announced last October, the statement said.

"It's great that we have reached an agreement to sell the UK's shareholding in Eurostar that delivers a fantastic deal for UK taxpayers that exceeds expectations," the statement quoted the British Chancellor George Osborne as saying.

The UK Government's share in Eurostar was sold to a consortium of the Canadian institutional investor Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and to the UK-based investor Hermes Infrastructure. They will own 30 percent and 10 percent of Eurostar respectively. The French and Belgian railway firms SNCF and SNCB continue to own the rest.

Eurostar began its services in 1994 and since then has carried more than 150 million passengers.

In 2013, Osborn said that the British government would proceed with the sale of its share in Eurostar to be able to reform the British economy and tackle the national debt which is estimated by economists will reach 90 percent of GDP in 2016 — 2017.

The same year, the British government announced plans to sell its shares in the uranium enrichment company URENCO, legacy Royal Mail pension assets and the government's student loan book.