FirstGroup’s board rejects takeover bid

Rail and bus operator FirstGroup has rejected a proposed takeover provide from international infrastructure funding fund I Squared Capital Advisors.

FirstGroup, which is the UK’s largest rail operator, has acquired a “sequence of unsolicited, conditional proposals” from I Squared Capital providing a value of £1.18 per share to shareholders, plus a doable additional 45.6p per share primarily based on the sale of FirstGroup’s First Transit and Greyhound subsidiaries.

The corporate’s board mentioned in an announcement that it had unanimously rejected the takeover proposal from I Squared Capital.

“The board, having rigorously evaluated the proposal along with its advisers, concluded that the money part of £1.18 per FirstGroup share considerably undervalues FirstGroup’s persevering with operations and its future prospects,” mentioned FirstGroup in an official response to the takeover strategy.

FirstGroup operates 4 UK prepare networks: Avanti West Coast, Nice Western Railway, South Western Railway and TransPennine Specific. The corporate can be the second largest bus operator in the UK.

I Squared Capital, which has places of work in London, Hong Kong, Delhi, Singapore and Miami, specialises in infrastructure investments within the transport, vitality, utilities and telecoms sectors.

If the takeover bid for FirstGroup is profitable it’ll turn out to be one other acquisition of a serious UK-based floor transport operator this yr after Stagecoach was purchased by German investment fund DWS Infrastructure last month.