UK high-speed rail bids due by Oct 29 - sources

LONDON/AMSTERDAM, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Bidders for Britain's only high-speed railway linking London to the Channel Tunnel have been asked to submit binding offers by Oct. 29, several people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Infrastructure investors who submitted preliminary offers last month for the 30-year concession of High Speed 1 (HS1), were told this week whether they are through to the next round in the auction, the sources said.

The British government hopes the auction will fetch at least 1.5 billion pounds, the sources added.

A successful sale would be a welcome contribution to government coffers as it grapples with a budget deficit that will near 150 billion pounds this year, and would bode well for further privatisations. [ID:nLDE67P1M7]

A consortium called GB Speedrail and comprising Eurotunnel (GETP.PA), Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners, M&G's Infracapital, Britain's Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and the infrastructure arm of France's Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC) is through to the next round, sources close to the consortia said.

A second consortium comprises Morgan Stanley (MS.N) Infrastructure, 3i Infrastructure Plc (3IN.L) and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) while Borealis, the infrastructure investment arm has teamed up with Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

They are both also through to the next round, the sources said.

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) (1038.HK) is also a suitor for the asset, sources told Reuters last month. [ID:nLDE67G0S0]

A senior CKI official told reporters last week it was looking at more than 10 projects in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand and money was "not an issue".

CKI Group Managing Director Kam Hing Lam said bidding for HS1 "was at a very preliminary stage" and declined to discuss CKI's interest further. [ID:nTOE67U081] GB Speedrail, Morgan Stanley, 3i and Ontario Teachers declined to comment while spokespeople for CKI, ADIA, Borealis and London and Continental Railways, the state-owned parent of HS1, were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. (Reporting by Quentin Webb and Greg Roumeliotis; Editing by Erica Billingham)