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Wednesday, 18 January 2012 10:05 |
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CASH strapped British Waterways has pulled out of the flagship Wood Wharf joint venture selling its share for £52.4m, writes Allan Richards.
Canary Wharf, which is already a 25% shareholder in Wood Wharf Limited Partnership has purchased British Waterways' 50% share. It has also purchased Ballymore's 25% share for £38m making it the sole shareholder.
Never made a profit
Over the last three years British Waterways forecast a net profit of £55m from its joint ventures. Unfortunately, it has made very significant losses instead, and now British Waterways is selling up.
The question is, will British Waterways commit to use this £52.4m next year to stop our waterways deteriorating further?
No! It will play monopoly with it, buying more pubs, marinas and anything else that that takes its fancy. We will no doubt be told that it is ensuring the long term sustainability of the waterways by doing so. |
