UK’s biggest train operator says proposal from I Squared Capital ‘significantly undervalues’ business
FirstGroup has rejected a £1.23bn takeover bid from a private equity firm, saying it “significantly undervalues” the UK transport company.
The UK bus and train company said at the time that it was considering the offer, consisting of a cash component of 118p a share and a “contingent right” of up to 45.6p a share. The contingent element was based on potential payouts from the sale last year of FirstGroup’s US transit and Greyhound bus businesses.
The activists, led by New York-based Coast Capital Management, were disgruntled with the £3.3bn FirstGroup received for the sale of its operations in the US.
Coast said FirstGroup’s management had bungled the deal to sell its FirstStudent and FirstTransit businesses to Swedish private equity group EQT by selling during the pandemic, substantially undervaluing the divisions.
Read more: FT
