Adrien Aumont — Some emails are more pleasant than others. Like the one we published last week, received a few days after the partners pitch. In essence, the investment bank told us that it had received very positive feedback from the management company. Its partners like the project and want to continue moving towards funding. Discussions with their teams are resuming and, without further delay, we’re launching the production of new documentation to answer their final questions. The aim is to convince them that Midnight Trains can and will make money. Despite what the partner who flies to Barcelona for €35 thinks, the price of our tickets is adapted to the market, a market that loves the night train, wants it to be reinvented, wants to travel in a carbon-free way and knows it will soon be the norm. That our model will work because it’s anchored in its time. Based on this documentation, teams and partners continue to dig deeper and deeper to experience Midnight Trains in its entirety.
Romain Payet — After two meetings with the hotel group and four others (including the partners pitch) with the management company, their two governances began, which is a long process leading to the concrete triggering of the investment. This goes through a number of levels of discussion, reflection and validation. We must not forget that these are groups of a colossal size. Nothing is done quickly. Every decision must move up the long ladder of authority until it reaches the top of the pyramid.
Of course, at every stage, we communicate with one another. We’re talking about the hotel group to the management company and vice versa. So much so that, after a while, the two giants decide to talk to each other. We obviously don't know exactly what they’re saying. But essentially, they both want to invest in Midnight Trains and are thinking about the best way to do so, including what the final team could look like, everyone’s investment and so on. They go over everything, from the most important elements to the smallest details.
At that moment, I might as well tell you, morale is high. This conversation between the two giants bodes well. What a team that would be! A massive financier capable of putting the sum we need on the table. A global strategic partner that brings credibility to the project and reassures the financier. Two names which have the good taste to reassure the ROSCO, the company which will buy the trains to rent them to us, which is starting to get impatient.
Adrien Aumont — In short, we continue to move forward alongside our two future investors to support them until a letter of interest is issued from each of them. We provide documents, information, and answer their final questions. It’s two weeks of waiting while continuing to do what’s necessary, but always with seriousness and optimism. We know that in this type of collaboration, nothing happens until the last minute.
Unfortunately, some emails are less pleasant than others. Like the one we received from the ROSCO during this two-week wait. An email which, amid the mass of advertisements, LinkedIn notifications and news notifications, contained something worrying. Nothing to celebrate in any case. Rather the opposite. In this case, it’s the announcement that the ROSCO is letting us go. It won’t buy our trains and won’t rent them to us. We learn later that it mobilised all its capital to buy one of its main competitors. We knew, this type of company doesn’t like to let money sit idle. It’s a real blow, but the adventure doesn’t stop here. After all, we still have two giants on our side.
