Business NEWS

U.K. bus and rail operator Stagecoach In Talks Over Possible National Express Bid

By Mike Martinez for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:October 19, 2009

Transport group, U.K. bus and rail operator Stagecoach Group (UK:SGC) has approached National Express PLC (NEX.LN), the indebted bus and train operator, over plans for a friendly merger.

National Express confirmed yesterday that Stagecoach had approached chairman John Devaney over the weekend proposing an all-share £1.7bn merger.

In a statement yesterday the company said the board had received “a highly preliminary proposal from Stagecoach to acquire the group in an all-share transaction, with National Express shareholders owning no more than 40 per cent of the enlarged group”.

The deal would allow National Express and the Government to sidestep a brewing row over the company’s East Anglia and e2e train franchises, which it wants to keep, despite handing the unprofitable East Coast main line back to the Department of Transport. Spain’s Cosmen family and the buyout group CVC walked away from a deal to buy National Express on Friday.

Spain’s Cosmen family, National Express’s biggest investor, has told the group it would support an equity fundraising within “certain parameters”, according to a statement released Friday.

Shares in National Express (NEX.L) gain 9.5 percent to 396 pence after the bus and rail company says it has been approached by rival Stagecoach (SGC.L) over a possible merger.

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