London & Continental Railroad
When London & Continental Railways (LCR) decided to sell High Speed 1, it selected Intralinks’ critical information exchange solution to assist making the data available to bidders. The end result was the £2.1 billion sale to Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
THE SITUATION
Following the British general election in May 2010, LCR, a UK government owned company, confirmed its intention to sell High Speed 1, the company within its group that held the concession to run the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
THE PROBLEM
To ensure the due diligence process ran smoothly, LCR needed an external Virtual Data Room (VDR) solution to present the files to bidders for its key disciplines— insurance, technical, legal, finance and environment — in a secure and compliant way.
THE IMPLICATIONS
LCR started to assemble various documentation and due diligence reports on its Electronic Data Management System (EDMS) and although this internal system was adequate for sharing data within the firewall, it did not offer the level of access and security needed to share documents with external third parties. LCR looked to its financial advisor for recommendations on Software-as-a-Service providers that offered a VDR solution.
THE SOLUTION
LCR ultimately selected Intralinks because its software is simple to implement and use, and can be customized to meet specific needs. A key differentiator LCR recognized in their buying decision was the IntraLinks Q&A module, which allows for all bidders’ questions to be asked and answered within the VDR solution. LCR quickly implemented an Intralinks VDR to manage the sale of High Speed 1 to the final shortlist of bidders. All sensitive documents that were stored on the internal EDMS were exported and uploaded onto the Intralinks VDR within a matter of days and ready for bidders to access and review. The ability to add files in bulk, index information, set permissions for multiple groups and users provided the ultimate control and efficiency needed to accelerate the deal process.
THE RESULT
Within three months of opening the Intralinks VDR, LCR completed the £2.1 billion sale of High Speed 1 to Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
THE BENEFIT
LCR found that the most significant benefits of using Intralinks were the ease of use, time efficiencies, and confidentiality. Documents were uploaded instantaneously, making them available 24/7/365 to potential bidders across the world. The document control access enabled audit tracking of the type, amount and timing of review by bidders, delivering intelligence and insight into intent.
