Union steps in as £360m pension row at FirstGroup escalates May 10, 2021 Union Unite has spoken out against FirstGroup’s biggest investor, which wants to see proceeds for a recent sale at First Group given to shareholders, rather than used to plug the company’s pension deficit. FirstGroup recently sold its US division First Bus for £3.3bn to EQT Infrastructure, a year after putting the business up for sale. [...]
FirstGroup strikes £3.3bn deal to sell iconic yellow school buses in US April 23, 2021 Train and bus operator FirstGroup has announced this morning the sale of two of its US divisions for £3.3bn to EQT Infrastructure, a year after putting the businesses up for sale. Bosses at the firm said the cash raised from offloading First Student, the operator of famous yellow US school buses, and First Transit will [...]
Exclusive: TfL took legal advice on cancelling First Group tram contract after fatal Croydon crash January 12, 2021 Transport for London (TfL) was considering cancelling Tram Operations Limited’s (TOL) contract to run the Croydon tram network in the aftermath of 2016’s fatal crash, but concluded it would be too difficult to do so. City A.M. has obtained TfL documents from 2017 showing that the transport operator received legal advice on whether it could [...]
Scandinavian fund EQT join race for First Group’s US businesses January 7, 2021 A Scandinavian fund has joined the bidding for transport operator First Group’s US assets, which are valued at £2.5bn. Sky News reported that EQT Infrastructure made a $3.7bn bid for the First Transit and First Student in the days leading up to Christmas. The fund, which is run by one of Scandinavia’s most powerful equity [...]
FirstGroup offload three US properties in £100m deal December 31, 2020 Transport outfit FirstGroup have offloaded three properties used by its US bus group, Greyhound, in deals worth £102m. The Aberdeen-based firm confirmed the deal to the stock market this morning. The biggest of the three deals is an agreement to sell Greyhound’s Los Angeles terminal to a subsidiary of property firm Prologis for $88m (£65m). [...]
First Group shares jump as buyers circle US bus operations September 7, 2020 Shares in transport operator First Group popped this morning after reports that a number of buyers were circling its US operations, which were put up for sale in March. By the mid morning, shares in First Group, which runs bus and rail businesses in the UK and US, were up over 15 per cent at [...]
Coronavirus: First Group receives £300m from Bank of England April 24, 2020 Transport operator First Group today announced it had received £300m from the Bank of England to help deal with the financial damage of the coronavirus pandemic. First is currently running its bus services at 40 per cent of normal capacity, although passenger numbers have dropped 90 per cent, the firm said. The company’s rail franchises [...]
First Group begins sale of North American businesses after investor pressure March 11, 2020 Bus operator First Group has today announced that it will sell its North American businesses after a long-running campaign by prominent investors finally paid off. Coast Capital, an activist hedge fund with a 10 per cent stake in the firm, as well as British-Iranian property tycoon Robbie Tchenguiz, have been pressuring First Group to divest [...]
Coast Capital renews attempt to force break-up of bus operator First Group March 9, 2020 Coast Capital has renewed its attempts to engineer a break-up of transport operator First Group, saying it will try to force an emergency general meeting of shareholders unless the group announces a separation. First Group has long been under pressure from several of its investors to separate the company’s North American operations into independent businesses, [...]
First Group shareholder claims victory as firm weighs sale of US arm December 16, 2019 A major First Group shareholder has welcomed the firm’s decision to consider a sale of its US businesses. The transport giant today said it has appointed advisers to review its US school bus and public transit arms, adding that it will “explore all options” a month after a sinking share price pushed two big investors [...]