Rebirth of England.

Chapter 901 Splitting Bombardier

Of course, there is another major problem, that is, the British government has no money!
If the development in Barron's previous life had continued, the project would not have started in 2016, but in 2017. Moreover, the project was stopped and repaired frequently, and the progress was very slow.

The budget for the entire High-Speed ​​Rail Line 2 has also increased from the initial total budget of 327 billion pounds to 620 billion pounds, and later to 1060 billion pounds, which is already seriously overspent!

To put it bluntly, except for a small portion that needs to be invested in environmental protection and protection of cultural relics, most of the increased budget funds are dragged out.

Doesn’t Cameron want construction of Britain’s High Speed ​​Rail Line 2 to start sooner?
Don’t think that there are no “political achievement projects” in Europe and the United States. The benefits of this high-speed rail line are obvious. It can not only strengthen the flow of personnel and logistics in the UK, but also provide a large number of jobs for the UK. This kind of infrastructure-like project can be said to be very useful for the economic recovery of the UK.

But on the one hand, because it is too "free", voices from all sides are very noisy. On the other hand, the most critical issue is money.

Therefore, when Cameron heard that Barron was interested in taking on the High-Speed ​​Rail Line 2 project, he couldn't wait to meet him.

"Are you really prepared to invest in this project? You know, the budget for this project is as high as 400 billion pounds..."

Cameron did not hide it and said to Barron:
"According to the latest assessment, it is likely that the amount of money needed will be slightly higher than this figure."

"I understand that the High Speed ​​Rail Line 2 project is very important to Britain, and I am willing to contribute my own strength to it, Mr. Prime Minister..."

Barron first reaffirmed his attitude, and then said:

“But, in the end, I hope that through this project, both I and the country can benefit and achieve a win-win situation. So before that, you need to meet a few of my requirements.”

"What do you want? Just tell me."

In any case, Cameron hopes to hear Barron's ideas first.

After all, with the investment in this project, there is probably no company in the UK that can take it up - except the Duke of Devonshire in front of him.

This is why, before this, the British government was considering investing in this project from national finances. But in reality, even with 400 billion pounds and even the possibility of additional budget, the British government cannot start the project in a short time. It was originally planned to start construction in stages in 2016, and it is necessary to prepare for this in the government budgets of previous years before that.

But if possible, Cameron would certainly like to start this project during his term of office. After all, he himself is not sure whether he can be re-elected after the next general election.

If this project can be launched during his term of office, regardless of when it will be completed and open to traffic, at least the jobs created by the High-Speed ​​Rail Line 2 and the small and medium-sized enterprises that benefit from it are real - this can also accumulate political achievements for his next general election.

"First, I need to get an operating company to carry out this project..."

Barron's first request is that the British government provide all possible support for his related acquisitions. After all, Barron's current industries do not include any companies involved in high-speed railway construction and operation.

He currently has some acquisition targets, the first of which is First Group.

FirstGroup PLC is a passenger transport company headquartered in the United Kingdom, which currently derives most of its revenue from the United Kingdom.

The group has three divisions: Greyhound, First Bus and First Rail.

The Greyhound division operates intercity buses in the United States and Canada; First Bus operates buses in the United Kingdom and Ireland; and First Rail operates passenger trains in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The current market value of the First Group is not high, at around 5 million pounds (about 7.5 million US dollars), so it is not difficult for Barron.

Another is Eversholt Rail Group, one of the three largest rail vehicle leasing companies in the UK. It leases trains to rail passenger and freight companies under long-term contracts. It owns a wide range of train types, including regional, short-distance and high-speed passenger trains, as well as freight locomotives. The company's train fleet currently includes 3474 passenger cars, 63 freight boxes, and two train factories.

In the original time and space, Li Chaoren's Cheung Kong Infrastructure acquired the railway group for 25 billion pounds two years later, but now it is expected that the transaction can be completed within 23 billion pounds.

Since he has entered the railway industry, Barron's ambition is naturally not just the High-Speed ​​Rail Line 2 project. He naturally hopes to acquire more related high-quality companies.

Neither of these two acquisitions is too difficult; the key is the last one.

Barron hopes the British government will support his acquisition of Bombardier through Alstom.

Specifically, Barron's will acquire Bombardier and then split it up - Bombardier's main businesses currently include aviation and rail.

Many people may only think of Bombardier for its business jets, but in fact, Bombardier Rail is also a technological leader in the field of ultra-high-speed railways and trams.

If Alstom can merge with Bombardier's railway business, it will surpass Siemens in scale and become the world's largest rail transit giant!

Of course, Alstom will not be able to hold the first position for more than a year...

Because after China's CSR and CNR merge into CRRC next year, they will snatch the first place from Alstom.

Currently, Bombardier's total market value is around US$200 billion. According to Barron's plan, after acquiring Bombardier, its railway business will be split off and merged with Alstom, leaving only its aviation business.

In fact, Bombardier's situation has not been good in recent years because of excessive investment in the research and development of its commercial aircraft C Series. In addition, due to the economic crisis, both its railway business and business jet business have not been as profitable as before. As of now, Bombardier's foreign debt has exceeded US$90 billion and its financial situation has fallen into crisis.

In Barron's previous life, Bombardier's C-Series was in financial crisis due to R&D cost overruns and the United States' use of the "big stick" of tariffs to restrict its sales.

最终在2017年，空客以1美元价格获取C系列50.01%股份并将其改名为A220，庞巴迪公司只保留了31%的股份。

In order to cope with the financial crisis, it had to sell the Dash2018 and CRJ regional aircraft projects in 2019 and 8 respectively.

At the same time, Bombardier's railway business also continued to lose money in the following years...

The only reason it can make a profit is due to the impact of the global economic recovery. Its business jet sales are not bad, but the global economic recovery has just begun.

Therefore, Barron's acquisition will basically not encounter too much difficulty on the Bombardier side. The only thing that needs to be resolved is the EU's antitrust investigation.

The EU's antitrust agency is very cautious in reviewing mergers between "giants" that already have high market share.

In the original time and space, when Alstom later acquired Bombardier's railway business, the condition for the EU's approval of the agreement was -

Alstom needs to sell some of its factories, including its plant in Reichsthofen in eastern France, as well as its Coradia Polyvalent series of multiple units and divest Bombardier's commuter train division and related production facilities in Hennigsdorf, Germany.

Barron naturally does not want to "dismember" Bombardier's rail business so much, so Britain will need to step in to persuade the EU - and France, where Alstom is located, will also lobby for this.

At a time when the EU needs internal unity, if Britain and France both work together to protect Alstom, there is still a great possibility that the EU antitrust agency will release it.

(End of this chapter)