Jorge Cosmen raises National Express stake

Shares in National Express raced ahead after deputy chairman Jorge Cosmen increased his family's influence over the company, spending more than £1.7m on shares in the train and bus operator.He bought just over 500,000 shares at 341p a time and now has about 29m, which is just shy of 20% of the company.The Cosmen family, a Spanish dynasty specialising in transport, recently teamed up with private equity group CVC to launch a bid for National Express but then withdrew their interest after negotiations.National Express later rejected a merger offer from its rival Stagecoach, instead opting to raise funds from shareholders through a rights issue.The rejection of the Stagecoach offer prompted criticism from the Cosmen family, which said it was 'concerned that there has not been a sufficiently full and thorough assessment of all the available options to address the company's short and longer-term challenges.'Among the challenges National Express has faced are the loss of the East Coast rail franchise, which it walked away from after seeing revenues fall. The firm now has just two rail franchises, the c2c service between London and south Essex and the East Anglia line that runs between London and Norwich. Top Director BuysNational Express Group (NEX) Director name: Mr Jorge CosmenAmount purchased: 501,823 @ 341.00p Value: £1,711,216Cable & Wireless (CW.) Director name: Mr Timothy PenningtonAmount purchased: 336,986 @ 139.46p Value: £469,961Cable & Wireless (CW.) Director name: Mr John PlutheroAmount purchased: 150,000 @ 138.91p Value: £208,365Healthcare Locums (HLO) Director name: Ms Kate BleasdaleAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 252.00p Value: £126,000Mecom Group (MEC) Director name: Mr David MontgomeryAmount purchased: 20,000 @ 145.00p Value: £29,000Byotrol (BYOT) Director name: Mr Iain Duncan SmithAmount purchased: 65,000 @ 31.00p Value: £20,150Byotrol (BYOT) Director name: Dr. Till MedingerAmount purchased: 65,000 @ 31.00p Value: £20,150Top Director SellsBankers Petroleum Ltd (BNK) Director name: Mr Robert M D CrossAmount sold: 1,000,000 @ 284.62p Value: £2,846,200Unite Group (UTG) Director name: Mr Mark AllenAmount sold: 54,733 @ 280.30p Value: £153,417