HICL buys minority stake in Cross London Trains; CDPQ in talks to buy Vodafone's Indus Towers stake

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was called to open nine points higher at 7,550.

Stocks to watch

HICL Infrastructure said it had bought a minority equity stake in Cross London Trains (XLT) from funds managed by Equitix Investment Management for an undisclosed sum.

XLT is a public private partnership that owns the recently delivered fleet of rolling stock operating on the Thameslink passenger rail route which covers the North-South London commuter rail corridor and serves both Luton and Gatwick airports.

Canadian pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) is reportedly in talks with Vodafone to buy the residual 21% stake it owns in Indus Towers, India’s largest mobile tower installation company.

According to The Economic Times, both sides have had management meetings and a formal due diligence is expected to start as the stake sale process has been revived in recent weeks.

Newspaper round-up

The annual bonuses paid to water company executives rose by 20% in 2021, despite most of the firms failing to meet sewage pollution targets. Figures show on average executives received £100,000 in one-off payments on top of their salaries, during a period in which foul water was being pumped for 2.7m hours into England’s rivers and swimming spots. – Guardian

The Dubai-based owner of P&O Ferries has been accused of behaving like “corporate gangsters” after celebrating record-breaking profits just months after sacking 800 of its UK-based workers without notice. DP World, which is ultimately owned by the Dubai royal family, said in March that firing 786 P&O seafarers and replacing them with much cheaper agency workers was the only way to ensure the “future viability” of the historic ferry business. – Guardian

Apple warned of serious security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads and Macs that could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices. The tech giant said it is "aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited". – Telegraph

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is slashing tax on household energy bills as Europe’s largest economy braces for a winter crisis. The sales tax on gas will be lowered to 7pc from 19pc in an effort to cushion the blow of additional charges being placed on consumers to help prevent suppliers from collapsing. – Telegraph

Anne Pitcher of Selfridges, one of the most recognisable names in British retailing, is standing down at the end of the year after the completion of the department store group’s sale. It was announced yesterday that the billionaire Weston family has finalised the disposal to an Austrian and Thai joint venture for a price thought to be close to £4 billion. – The Times

US Close

Wall Street's main market gauges reversed earlier losses to close higher on Thursday, as investors digested a fresh batch of better-than-expected economic indicators.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.06% at 33,999.04, as the S&P 500 added 0.23% to 4,283.74, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.21% at 12,965.34.