http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/...-HENDERSON.XML

Quote
Henderson appoints KPMG for Chiltern sale-source
Thu Jul 5, 2007 12:15 PM BST ]
LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Fund manager group Henderson (HGI.L: Quote,
Profile , Research) has retained accountancy group KPMG [KPMG.UL] to
advise on the sale of its Chiltern Railways unit, a source said on
Thursday.
Henderson acquired Chiltern Railways last year when it bought John
Laing and is selling the rail firm to focus on its public
infrastructure portfolio, the source said.
Possible bidders would include Britain's top five bus and rail
operators, Stagecoach Group (SGC.L: Quote, Profile , Research), Go-
Ahead Group (GOG.L: Quote, Profile , Research), First Group (FGP.L:
Quote, Profile , Research), National Express (NEX.L: Quote, Profile ,
Research) and Arriva (ARI.L: Quote, Profile , Research), as well as
Germany's Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] and French bus and rail operator
Keolis, the source added.
KPMG was not immediately available for comment.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Unquote

On Jul 5, 5:07 pm, Bob wrote:
Possible bidders would include Britain's top five bus and rail
operators, Stagecoach Group (SGC.L: Quote, Profile , Research), Go-
Ahead Group (GOG.L: Quote, Profile , Research), First Group (FGP.L:
Quote, Profile , Research), National Express (NEX.L: Quote, Profile ,
Research) and Arriva (ARI.L: Quote, Profile , Research), as well as
Germany's Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] and French bus and rail operator
Keolis, the source added.

Oh wonderful. If any of the usual suspects acquire it I can see
Chiltern getting sucked into a tiolet tank and turned into a shadow of
its clean, reliable, expansionist, common-sense self. Whoopee.

*has horrible mental images of Barbie swirls all over the 168/Xs*

On 6 Jul, 03:20, TheOneKEA wrote:
On Jul 5, 5:07 pm, Bob wrote:

Possible bidders would include Britain's top five bus and rail
operators, Stagecoach Group (SGC.L: Quote, Profile , Research), Go-
Ahead Group (GOG.L: Quote, Profile , Research), First Group (FGP.L:
Quote, Profile , Research), National Express (NEX.L: Quote, Profile ,
Research) and Arriva (ARI.L: Quote, Profile , Research), as well as
Germany's Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] and French bus and rail operator
Keolis, the source added.

Oh wonderful. If any of the usual suspects acquire it I can see
Chiltern getting sucked into a tiolet tank and turned into a shadow of
its clean, reliable, expansionist, common-sense self. Whoopee.

*has horrible mental images of Barbie swirls all over the 168/Xs*

There are suggestions going round that whilst Chiltern is doing very
well on punctuality etc. there are many problems to do with other "key
performance indicators" linked to retaining the franchise that need
very urgent attention. (suggested as one reason behind the change of
MD recently announced) - so whilst it may seem to be doing very well
it could be that there are issues that need to be resolved elsewhere
in the company that we aren't aware of.

Tony

In article . com,
wrote:


There are suggestions going round that whilst Chiltern is doing very
well on punctuality etc. there are many problems to do with other "key
performance indicators" linked to retaining the franchise that need
very urgent attention. (suggested as one reason behind the change of
MD recently announced) - so whilst it may seem to be doing very well
it could be that there are issues that need to be resolved elsewhere
in the company that we aren't aware of.

Tony


and this weeks Transit magazine shows chiltern's latest financial
figures, indicating that the previous year's decent profit has been
turned into a reasonable loss....

SB

On Jul 6, 11:36 am, Steve Broadbent wrote:
In article . com,

wrote:
There are suggestions going round that whilst Chiltern is doing very
well on punctuality etc. there are many problems to do with other "key
performance indicators" linked to retaining the franchise that need
very urgent attention. (suggested as one reason behind the change of
MD recently announced) - so whilst it may seem to be doing very well
it could be that there are issues that need to be resolved elsewhere
in the company that we aren't aware of.

Tony

and this weeks Transit magazine shows chiltern's latest financial
figures, indicating that the previous year's decent profit has been
turned into a reasonable loss....

SB

I spy a bank or venture capitalist firm lurking about...!

Chiltern Railways- "Not As Good As We Think We Are"
--- But they are better than some of the rest!

"chunky munky" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jul 6, 11:36 am, Steve Broadbent wrote:
In article . com,

wrote:
There are suggestions going round that whilst Chiltern is doing very
well on punctuality etc. there are many problems to do with other "key
performance indicators" linked to retaining the franchise that need
very urgent attention. (suggested as one reason behind the change of
MD recently announced) - so whilst it may seem to be doing very well
it could be that there are issues that need to be resolved elsewhere
in the company that we aren't aware of.

Tony

and this weeks Transit magazine shows chiltern's latest financial
figures, indicating that the previous year's decent profit has been
turned into a reasonable loss....

SB

I spy a bank or venture capitalist firm lurking about...!


What isn't clear is if Henderson is selling Laing Rail, which is Chilterns
parent, or just Chiltern.

If they are selling Laing Rail division, is there any reason why GoVia, the
second placed for the London Rail concession, couldn't buy it? I thought
they were in with a shout for the Ovewrground, if only because there will be
a lot of interaction between the ELL/WLL and other GoVia/Southern routes.
Same applies to services through Snow Hill now as well of course with West
Midlands...

Paul

Paul

On 6 Jul, 11:39, chunky munky wrote:
On Jul 6, 11:36 am, Steve Broadbent wrote:
In article . com,

wrote:
There are suggestions going round that whilst Chiltern is doing very
well on punctuality etc. there are many problems to do with other "key
performance indicators" linked to retaining the franchise that need
very urgent attention. (suggested as one reason behind the change of
MD recently announced) - so whilst it may seem to be doing very well
it could be that there are issues that need to be resolved elsewhere
in the company that we aren't aware of.

Tony

and this weeks Transit magazine shows chiltern's latest financial
figures, indicating that the previous year's decent profit has been
turned into a reasonable loss....

SB

I spy a bank or venture capitalist firm lurking about...!

How about a managment buy-out? Or even, purchase by MTR?

AE

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:39:28 -0700, chunky munky
wrote:

Chiltern Railways- "Not As Good As We Think We Are"
--- But they are better than some of the rest!

I'd rather have Silverlink (County), who are getting to rather
impressive standards of punctuality and reliability[1], not to mention
lack of overcrowding. Just proves it *can* be done.

[1] I don't remember the last time I saw "Cancelled" on the board at
MKC.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On 6 Jul, 08:44, wrote:
On 6 Jul, 03:20, TheOneKEA wrote:

On Jul 5, 5:07 pm, Bob wrote:

Possible bidders would include Britain's top five bus and rail
operators, Stagecoach Group (SGC.L: Quote, Profile , Research), Go-
Ahead Group (GOG.L: Quote, Profile , Research), First Group (FGP.L:
Quote, Profile , Research), National Express (NEX.L: Quote, Profile ,
Research) and Arriva (ARI.L: Quote, Profile , Research), as well as
Germany's Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] and French bus and rail operator
Keolis, the source added.

Oh wonderful. If any of the usual suspects acquire it I can see
Chiltern getting sucked into a tiolet tank and turned into a shadow of
its clean, reliable, expansionist, common-sense self. Whoopee.

*has horrible mental images of Barbie swirls all over the 168/Xs*

There are suggestions going round that whilst Chiltern is doing very
well on punctuality etc. there are many problems to do with other "key
performance indicators" linked to retaining the franchise that need
very urgent attention. (suggested as one reason behind the change of
MD recently announced) - so whilst it may seem to be doing very well
it could be that there are issues that need to be resolved elsewhere
in the company that we aren't aware of.

Tony

I think the tunnel collapse hit the finances hard and have they been
compensated yet?
Ridership does not seem to be a problem, but reliability of the 165
fleet, whilst hitting a peak a few months ago has again slumped to
around half that achieved by the Reading based examples. ATP problems
perhaps? The Chiltern 165s do have a few extra bits on them which
would mean more to fail. The Chiltern engineering staff are looking at
some innovations which have caught the attention of other DMU
operators, all of which would go a long way to improving reliability.
Doors and couplers being the main problem for most operators. In all
honesty though, apart from the tunnel incident, I cannot see what has
hit the finances to this degree. It was predicted at the time Laing
sold out that the business would be sold as a non core activity.

Ridership does not seem to be a problem, but reliability of the 165
fleet, whilst hitting a peak a few months ago has again slumped to
around half that achieved by the Reading based examples. ATP problems
perhaps? The Chiltern 165s do have a few extra bits on them which
would mean more to fail. The Chiltern engineering staff are looking at
some innovations which have caught the attention of other DMU
operators, all of which would go a long way to improving reliability.

I spent a few weeks at Aylesbury TMD about 3 years ago and one of the
new fitters was a former employee for FGW at Reading Turbo depot. He was
saying that staff at Reading were set to work in teams, (eg: those with
electrical expertise would work on electrics.) Whereas at Aylesbury, all
fitters end up doing all types of work. Could possibly be an issue...