A group of British pension funds are playing a key role in the privatisation of the UK government’s stake in Eurostar, boosting the Chancellor’s efforts to promote “British pension funds for British infrastructure”.

The funds involved have a collective 10% stake, and include the UK pension fund for the bank Santander, which is taking a third of it, the BT Pension Scheme, also with a third, and a number of UK corporate and local-authority pension funds that largely make up the remainder.