THE board of directors of Italian State Railways (FS) approved a proposal on February 25 to issue one or more loan stocks through a Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) on the Dublin stock exchange.

THE British Treasury has sold the government's 40% stake high-speed train operator Eurostar for £585.1m to Patina Rail, a Canadian-British consortium of fund managers. Eurostar has also agreed to redeem the government's £172m preference share once the sale has been finalised which will increase the total value of the sale to £757.1m.

THE board of Italian open-access high-speed operator NTV appointed Mr Flavio Cattaneo as its new CEO on February 26, and also approved new strategic and business plans for the company.

ROLLING stock leasing company Eversholt Rail Group announced on March 2 that it has reached an agreement to sell its entire fleet of freight wagons to the British subsidiary of Paris-based wagon leasing company Nacco for an undisclosed sum.

CAF has reported a net profit of €80.5m for 2014, with 82% of its €1.44bn net turnover coming from international sales.

GENESEE & Wyoming (G&W) announced on February 24 that it has agreed to acquire a 95% stake in Britain's Freightliner Group from Arcapita and other shareholders for $US 755m in cash.

HITACHI announced on February 24 that it has reached a binding agreement with the board of Finmeccanica to acquire all of the shares in AnsaldoBreda and the Italian conglomerate's 40% stake in Ansaldo STS.

RIFT Valley Railways (RVR), which holds A 25-year concession to operate the Kenya-Uganda railway, has asked the Kenyan High to stop the government from charging it the mandatory monthly fuel levy.

SALES at Eurostar increased by 1% in 2014 to £867m following a 3% increase in passengers to 10.4 million on its services from Britain to continental Europe.