Shares in transport giant FirstGroup slid nearly 3.5% to 120.7p today after it said it had agreed the sale of almost all of its remaining Greyhound US property portfolio.
The Aberdeen-based company collected £123 million from the deal.
It expects the sale of all but two of its Greyhound properties to Twenty Lake Holdings will complete in December.
Firm nets £140m in total from Greyhound asset deals
The bus and train group said that following the sale, its move to offload the last bits of the Greyhound business will be largely complete at a better-than-expected net value of more than £140m since the start of its financial year.
Chief executive Graham Sutherland added: “The sale of these residual Greyhound properties is another milestone in refocusing FirstGroup on our strong positions in bus and rail in the UK.”
FirstGroup announced last October that it was selling the Greyhound bus business in the US to German group FlixMobility for £151m.
Suitor walks out on £1.3bn-plus deal
International private equity house I Squared Capital Advisors recently walked away from a potential £1.3 billion-plus takeover of FirstGroup.
But the suitor also reported it could return to the negotiating table should circumstances change.
FTSE 250-listed FirstGroup revealed I Squared had raised its offer to £1.35 per share, from £1.18 previously, plus a further sum dependent on the outcome of an “earnout” linked to the sale of its First Transit subsidiary in North America, as well as net proceeds realised from “legacy assets and liabilities” of its former Greyhound business.
I Squared – operating from offices in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Delhi and Miami – had made previous approaches for the bus and rail firm, with FirstGroup twice asking for an extension to a “put up or shut up” deadline.
FirstGroup is the second-largest regional bus operator and biggest rail firm in the UK.
The company employs about 30,000 people and carries around 1.5m passengers across its networks every day.
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