10 Jul 2012 13:36
STAGECOACH WITHDRAWS FROM ANTICIPATED ACQUISITION OF NORTH DEVON BUS OPERATIONS
10 July 2012
Stagecoach Group plc ("Stagecoach") announced today (10 July 2012) that it is no longer proceeding with its planned acquisition of the North Devon business and assets of First Devon and Cornwall Limited ("First").
It follows the decision by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) today to refer the anticipated acquisition to the Competition Commission due to "concerns the merger will reduce competition in local bus services in the area".
A Stagecoach Group spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed at the decision of the OFT to refer what is a relatively small transaction to the Competition Commission.
"We do not believe we can justify spending further money and management time on what has already been a lengthy process.
"As a result, we have reluctantly decided not to proceed with the acquisition and have informed First we are withdrawing."
Stagecoach Group announced on 12 March 2012 that its subsidiary, Stagecoach Devon Limited, had signed an agreement with First Devon and Cornwall to acquire its business and assets in North Devon and Torridge for a gross consideration of £2.8m.
ENDS
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Stagecoach Group
·; Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, United States and Canada. The company employs 33,000 people and operates bus, coach, rail, and tram services.
Visit www.stagecoach.com for more information
·; Stagecoach is one of UK's biggest bus and coach operators. Around 2.5 million passengers travel on Stagecoach's 8,000 buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The company's business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge.
·; Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast inter-city rail franchise.
·; Stagecoach also runs the Supertram network in Sheffield.
·; In North America, Stagecoach operates around 1,900 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. Budget coach service megabus.com links around 80 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter and transit services, as well as tours, charters, sightseeing tours and a small number of school bus services.