Virgin Group aims to raise $900 million for rail service bid, company says

Written by Rishab Jaiswal

(Reuters) -The company said on Sunday that British billionaires, Richard Branson, aims to raise 700 million pounds (900 million dollars) to finance its plan to launch railway services through channels because it is looking to compete with Eurostar.

Virgin, who used to run Intercity services in Britain, plans to launch services that would link London with Paris and Brussels. It will also extend to Amsterdam in the future.

The company, Reuters, which confirmed a report in the Financial Times, which was the first to report the news, said Virgin aimed at collecting 300 million pounds of shares and 400 million pounds of debt.

It also plans to be an investor of cornerstone shares in the project.

The company said that Virgin’s plans are dedicated to high frequency service, which will be the first direct competitor to the Yorostar network, which can be launched once in 2029.

A spokesman said in a statement sent via e -mail: “The cross canal route is mature to change and will benefit from the competition.”

The company said: “Although Virgin does not commit to launching a service yet, we are seeking to obtain investments from the similar partners to invest in addition to Virgin and we are happy to progress so far.”

Eurostar FT told her that she welcomed the development of railway services in Europe, adding that “the competition in the high -speed railway sector is another example of the increasing demand for transportation for railways in Europe.”

Eurostar did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

($ 1 = 0.7740 pounds)

(Participated in the reports of Rishb Jaiswal in Bangaluru; edited by William Mallad, Christopher Kushing and Thomas Ganeovsky)