Arch villains

Abstract

Abstract:The privatisation of railway arches, which has led to big rent hikes and many small-business closures, is an example of asset-based capital in action. Arch Co bought a 150-year lease of the arches formerly owned by Network Rail during Chris Grayling's custodianship as transport secretary - as part of successive governments' massive programme of privatisation of publicly owned land. It is jointly owned by Blackstone and Telereal Trillium, two global property companies. Blackstone CEO is Steve Schwarzman, formerly of Lehman Brothers and a Trump ally. Telereal Trillium is owned by the William Pears property group. Its advisor, Lord Griffiths, was one of the Goldman Sachs executives involved in the Malaysian 1MDB scandal.