Eurostar and Thalys merger deal is approved by European Commission
THE MERGER between Eurostar and Thalys has been approved by the European Commission. It was first announced in September 2019, with the aim of receiving approval in spring 2020, however, the pandemic delayed the approval process.
Eurostar is 55% owned by SNCF, 5% by SNCB, and 40% by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Hermes Infrastructure. The latter acquired its stake from the British Government in 2015.
SNCF will take full control of Thalys’ parent company THIF Factory, which is jointly controlled by the French operator and SNCB. The Eurostar brand is being retained.
Thalys runs high-speed services in Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
The merger involves reorganising Eurostar and Thalys under a holding company, Holdco. This will have 100% of the shares of both operators, with SNCF solely managing Eurostar. The holding company will be based in Brussels, while train control will be based in London for Eurostar operations and Brussels for Thalys. Eurostar services during the coronavirus pandemic dropped to one train per day on the St. Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord and St. Pancras International to Brussels routes.
Trains have slowly been reintroduced over the past few months although not all routes are running, while trains are still not calling at Ashford International or Ebbsfleet International until the end of 2022 at the earliest.
Eurostar has also reintroduced its remaining refurbished E300 Class 373 trains on its services, with the trains being stored for a period while demand for services was low.