Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Antin Infrastructure Partners
Alain Rauscher (Antin Infrastructure Partners) : Antin soutient le projet TGV de Proxima
Alain Rauscher, cofondateur et président directeur général d’Antin Infrastructure Partners, était l'invité de Laure Closier dans Good Morning Business, ce lundi 17 juin. Ils se sont penchés sur l'investissement d'un milliard d'euros d’Antin Infrastructure Partners dans le projet de Proxima de concurrencer la SNCF en 2027, sur BFM Business. Retrouvez l'émission du lundi au vendredi et réécoutez la en podcast. 👋 Bienvenue sur la chaîne YouTube officielle de BFM Business, première chaîne d'information économique et financière de France.
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About Alain Rauscher
Alain Rauscher, co-founder and CEO of Antin Infrastructure Partners, discussed the firm's record annual results and investment strategy in a March 2025 interview. He stated that Antin invests in energy and environment, digital infrastructure, and transport, with a focus on renewable energy, fiber optics, and rail. Rauscher noted that artificial intelligence is expected to increase pressure on energy production by approximately 10% over the next 10 to 20 years in the United States. He also said that Chinese battery manufacturers have a 10-to-20-year lead over European and American producers. In June 2024, Rauscher announced Antin's €1 billion investment in Proxima, a project to operate high-speed trains on the Atlantic line in France, with trains ordered from Alstom. He attributed the project's viability to experienced leadership, including former SNCF executive Rachel Picard, and to the line's strong demand from commuters. Rauscher expressed concern about the political and economic climate in France, stating that the business world needs stability and visibility, and described some political proposals as generating "an eruption of anxiety and potential violence." In September 2021, Rauscher led Antin's listing on Euronext Paris, describing the move as a way to gain visibility and provide capital access for new partners while retaining majority ownership.
Transcript (15 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
Good morning, business news today. One billion euros is what the Antin Infrastructure Partners fund has just invested in Proxima, with initial orders from Alstom for the delivery and maintenance of 12 TGV trains. Alain Rauscher, hello, hello. You are the co-founder and CEO of Antin Infrastructure Partners. The goal is to run these trains between Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, Angers, to Paris. One billion already invested, it absolutely has to work, this Proxima project. Yet we have seen other projects that were abandoned, that stopped along the way. What makes Proxima more advanced and will it work in competition with the SNCF?
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Alain Rauscher0:42
Well, first of all, several things. The first is that it's a project on which we spent a huge amount of time. We tried to do things in order, that is, to think about the needs, starting from the needs of the users, and before, and so try to find the project that made the most sense from a usage standpoint. The Atlantic axis is a booming axis, and if you are a user yourself, you know there is a lot of pressure on seats. Therefore, strengthening the offer was an obvious thing for us. Then there were night train projects, in particular, that failed. As I said recently, the night train is for poetry. We dream. As a child, I thought it was wonderful. The TGV is prose; it's where you can actually succeed or not. Unfortunately, the night train is a subsidized thing. It's a shame, but that's how it is.
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Interviewer1:34
I don't know if you scare the SNCF, but yesterday the SNCF announced that Wigo will also deploy in the areas you are targeting on the Atlantic Arc.
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Alain Rauscher1:43
Yes, well, it's not at all a competition. It's an offer that is complementary to the SNCF's offer, which is much more expensive, as you know. It's an offer that was developed by Wigo, developed by the CEO of Proxima, Rachel Picard. So no surprise for us. So what we will try to bring is a positioning that responds to new mobilities, to the needs that have arisen from teleworking. Many people now live in Angers, Nantes, Bordeaux and go to work in Paris a few days a week and need to be able to work, especially on the trains.
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Interviewer2:16
So just as I was saying, there was Midnight Train, there was Ryno, which gave up. What makes it work? Rachel Picard is a very big part of the project. She is a former CEO of SNCF Voyages. Is it she, frankly, who convinced you of the project? She largely carries the success or failure of it.
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Alain Rauscher2:37
Of course. When you do a project of this magnitude, it is fundamental to have very high quality professionals at the helm. Rachel is an extremely respected and experienced person in this sector. Without her, we would not have gone on this adventure. But again, there is the setting up of the management structure, the choice of the line, and then the financing. And the great originality of Proxima compared to all other projects that may exist is that we are financed to the tune of one billion. So there is the money, obviously. But just, I would like to read you a quote from the founder of Midnight Train. He is no longer on the market. He says: 'This entire market was organized by the public authorities for their own historical operators, not to allow new players to emerge, as if it were not real competition.'
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Interviewer3:22
Is there now room for real competition?
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Alain Rauscher3:27
We believe so. And again, we are with 12 trains, we aim to eventually transport 100 million passengers. TGV passengers are about 320 million. So we are a small operator in the market. I prefer to talk about complementarity rather than competition with the SNCF. But the market competition is now established in France and Europe. So naturally, operators like us will emerge. The billion is just the beginning. We will need to put the financing conditions back on the table, which may have changed a little in recent weeks.
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Interviewer4:01
Will that be a difficulty for you or not?
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Alain Rauscher4:05
Then in fact, yes and no. First, for this billion, there is a part that is equity that we bring through our Antin fund, and then there is a debt complement. The debt has a cost, whatever it is, and that will be reflected in the prices we will ultimately charge.
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Interviewer4:21
What other super mega infrastructure projects do you have in France? At Antin?
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Alain Rauscher4:26
Well, in fact, in France we have no immediate project. This is really our very big project, because we already have that. But we have invested in many other countries, in solar energy in particular, in Germany, in Spain as well. We also invest in electric vehicle charging networks, for example. So we have plenty of very complementary projects.
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Interviewer4:46
Are you worried about the French economic situation? We were just talking about the NFP project, and the National Rally also revealed the details of theirs. In both cases, we see that it will be complicated to finance. Are you worried?
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Alain Rauscher5:01
I am obviously worried by all these projects, with a sort of eruption of anxiety, of potential violence. The business world needs stability and visibility.
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Interviewer5:15
Thank you very much, Alain Rauscher, for being with us, CEO of Antin Infrastructure. And so this investment of one billion euros. We are waiting on this set absolutely for Rachel Picard, we want to discuss with her. Thank you very much for being with us.