SNCF mulls buyout of UK government's Eurostar stake - report

PARIS (Reuters) - French rail operator SNCF is considering using its pre-emption purchase rights on the Eurostar train service to block certain bidders for the stake put up for sale by its partner, the British government, according to Les Echos newspaper.

The paper said the British government was about to name a shortlist of bidders for its 40 percent holding in the service that runs from Paris and Brussels to London through the Channel Tunnel.

The stake went up for sale in October and sources have said it could raise 300 million pounds for UK state coffers.

Les Echos said one bidder was a consortium put together by investment fund 3i and Predica, a division of the bank Credit Agricole . A second has been assembled by the Singapore sovereign fund, GIC, it said. A Chinese bidder and a Netherlands rail business were also on the shortlist, the newspaper said.

In October a person familiar with the process told Reuters that the state-owned SNCF, with 55 percent of Eurostar, and the Belgian government, which holds the remaining 5 percent, had decided not to bid. They have a last-look right which would enable them to offer a 15 percent premium on the final bid.

SNCF was not immediately reachable for comment.

(Reporting by Andrew Callus and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Leigh Thomas)