An investment prospectus to attract private funding for a project to build the world's first integrated testing facility for trains and rail infrastructure in south Wales has been launched. The Welsh Government's flagship Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) is inviting investors from around the world to take an equity stake in the business and support the next phase of the project's development.
The project has secured over £70m in public funding already committed and partially drawn down, with the Welsh Government committing £50m equity investment when the project launched in 2021. A further £20m grant is being provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, while Innovate UK has committed £7.4m for research and development.
Now GCRE Ltd, a special purpose vehicle company wholly owned by the Welsh Government, is seeking a joint venture partner (strategic investor) to play a lead role in the project’s implementation and further commercialisation. They could be a single investor or a consortium of investors, who will take a majority shareholding (minimum of 51%) and control of GCRE Ltd.
