ComfrotDelgro is set to becoming the second largest intercity coach operateor in the United Kingdom, after entering into an £8.75 million ($15.8 million) deal with Stagecoach Group, the country’s public transport provider.
The deal with take effect across two agreements. In the first, ComfortDelGro will acquire Stagecoach’s remaining 35% stake in Scottish Citylink Coaches. With this, the latter will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ComfortDelGro Group.
Scottish Citylink has been a 65%-owned subsidiary of ComfortDelGro since 2005.
The company operates 19 long-distance express services within Scotland, connecting the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, Inverness and some rural Highland communities.
As part of its £8.75 million deal, ComfortfortDelGro Group will concurrently acquire the marketing, retail and customer service activities under Stagecoach’s Meagabus UK coach busines and the Falcon coach service operating in Southwest England.
Megabus – which commenced operations in August 2003 – is a network of long-distance coach services linking 90 locations in England and Wales.
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Meanwhile, the Falcon Service is the first and only public transport link connecting the areas of Plymouth, Exeter, Cullompton, Wellington and Taunton with the Bristol Airport and city centre.
The service operates 19 journey a day, seven days a week.
The completion of the deal in end February 2022, will increase the number of inter-city coaches operated by ComfortDelGro Group to 150, from 100 at present.
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With this, the group will have a market share of 11%, thereby strengthening its presence in the UK.
“We intend to leverage on the experience we have gained in our existing operations to roll out new and innovative services for our passengers in England, Wales and Scotland as we position ourselves for post-Covid recovery,” says Yang Ban Seng, managing director/group CEO of ComfortDelGro.
Agreeing, Stagecoach’s chief executive martin Griffiths says the company Is looking to “ensure that the intercity-coach market in the UK remains robust and competitive and we know that under the ownership of the world renowned ComforDelGro brand, these businesses will continue to thrive”.
Yang says the group will continue to seek out opportunities to grow its business in the UK.
At present, it operates inter-city coach operations in Scotland, England (London), Wales (Cardiff) and Ireland (Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick).
The group also operates Metroline - the second largest bus operator in London – taxi radio circuits in Liverpool and Aberdeen, and private hire services in Liverpool.
Shares in ComfortDelGro closed down a cent or 0.7% at $1.38 on Dec 14.
