Bidders for British bus-train operator National Express sweeten offer

UK’s National Express gets sweetened takeover bid

LONDON — The partners bidding to take over National Express Group PLC on Thursday tabled a final indicative offer that values the bus and train operator at 765 million pounds ($1.25 billion).

The offer by the Cosmen family and CVC Capital Partners Ltd. was 11.6 percent higher than its previous bid, which was rejected by National Express.

The consortium said its offer was subject to due diligence and a positive recommendation by the National Express Board. National Express said it was studying the offer.

National Express shares closed up 13.1 percent to 465.9 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

National Express has been targeted for takeover since it announced in July that it expected to default on its franchise to operate rail services between London and Edinburgh. The company, which is carrying 1.2 billion pounds in debt, had originally been contracted to run the line until 2015, but the business lost 20 million pounds in the first half of this year because customer growth stalled amid the recession.

The government has said it would move to strip National Express of two other profitable rail franchises.

The consortium said it had agreed on principles to sell National Express’ U.K. rail and bus operations to Stagecoach PLC if the takeover goes ahead.

National Express also operates school bus services in 27 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, and is the leading private bus operator in Spain.

The Cosmen family sold the Spanish coach operator Alsa to National Express in 2005 for a 10 percent stake in the U.K. company and 149 million pounds. The family has continued to build up its stake, and Jorge Cosmen is deputy chairman of National Express’ board.

On the Net:

www.nationalexpressgroup.com