National Express Stagecoach Shareholders Bid

National Express Stagecoach Shareholders Bid by Andrew Blumer last updated on June 11, 2022

National Express believes it may win the bid of Stagecoach and takeover the company. However, considering a threat from rival bidder DWS, it has lately urged the shareholders to support its offer.

It made a bid of 470 million pounds lately and was gatecrashed by the DWS, a German investment firm, which made a cash offer of 595 million pounds.

The Stagecoach agreed to the all-share offer of the National Express last December, but the company took a reversal after a DWS offered a bid of 105p a share.

National Express stated its merger would create a 1.9 billion pounds transport group and be considered as a high-value creation compared to that of the DWS.

It urged the shareholders to take a look at the current market volatility and value merged Stagecoach on the fundamentals as well as strong prospects in the future.

The board of National Express believes an opportunity of superior value creation can be availed if the DWS offer of 105p per share is compared.

Moreover, National Express confirmed that the merger may not lead to any job loss or closure of any unit. The merger may deliver significant efficiencies.

The share price of National Express is witnessing a significant rise amid the bid is in process and the same goes with the Stagecoach shares.

About National Express

National Express was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Birmingham, England. It is a public limited company and a component of FTSE 250. It operates coach, train, bus services in Ireland, the United States, Morocco, Spain, Britain, Germany, Malta, Portugal and Canada along with the United Kingdom.

The British multinational transport company was on the verge of a takeover target in June 2009 by FirstGroup, but the offer was rejected. Another takeover offer was made in September 2009 by CVC Capital Partners, but things didn't materialize.

About Stagecoach

Stagecoach was founded in 1980 by Brian Souter, Robin Gloag and Ann Gloag. It is a public company and headquartered in Perth, Scotland.

The public transport company operates express coaches, tram service and busses in the United Kingdom. It had earlier served in Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and Oceania.

The key people in the group are Brian Souter and Ann Gloag. The two are brother and sister and hold about 26 percent combined shares in the company.

It is currently on the verge of getting acquired and the two bidders in the news include National Express and DWS.