Eversholt Rail Group (‘Eversholt’) is one of the three leading rolling stock leasing companies in the UK. 3i Infrastructure acquired its 33% interest in Eversholt in December 2010 as part of a consortium with Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and STAR Capital Partners, who each also held 33% stakes.

Overview

The consortium acquired 100% of Eversholt’s share capital from HSBC, where the business had been run as a leasing sub-division of the bank and was formerly known as HSBC Rail.

Over a period of four years, 3i Infrastructure and our consortium partners worked closely with the management team to establish Eversholt as a successful independent company, supporting the business in its re-franchising programme and in assessing a range of capital investment opportunities in its existing fleet and new build trains. The shareholders helped to optimise the company’s capital structure, through the issuance of long-term bonds, institutional private placements and bank finance.

In January 2015, 3i Infrastructure sold its stake in Eversholt to CK Investments S.A R.L., generating net proceeds of £365 million.

How we added value

• Worked closely with the management team to establish Eversholt as a successful independent company
• Supported the business in its re-franchising programme
• Assessed a range of capital investment opportunities, both to add further trains to the overall fleet and to invest in upgrading existing assets to provide a better passenger experience and improved reliability, at good value for money for customers
• Optimised the company’s capital structure through the issuance of three long-dated public bonds and a private placement
• Established asset management business to manage trains from other rolling stock providers, including Thameslink
• Strengthened the company’s governance through several appointments to the board, including a new chair, a highly experienced non-executive director, a CFO and COO

Regulatory information
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc.