Emailed in by MBK from The Times:
The sale raised more than £757 million and the final price was 90 per cent higher than earlier valuations, a report by the National Audit Office said.
Meg Hillier, Labour chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said that the government’s focus on Eurostar appeared to have been on short-term cash rather than on long-term value for taxpayers.
“Once sold, the family silver can’t be bought back. Had it kept its share, the government was forecast to pay off over £500 million of national debt over the next ten years using dividends from its 40 per cent share in Eurostar, and receive a further £243 million in dividends from its preference share.”
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