Go-Ahead agrees to £650m acquisition bid from Kinetic and Globalvia

• The board of the Thameslink operator collectively recommended the offer to shareholders.

The Go-Ahead Group, Britain’s leading transport giant, has reportedly accepted a £650 million ($787.27 million) takeover offer from an alliance of Kinetic, an Australian bus operator, and Globalvia, an infrastructure specialist.

After receiving two offers from the bidders, Go-Ahead, a prominent provider of bus services in the UK and the operator of the largest commuter rail network in UK, Govia Thameslink Railway, stated that the board unanimously endorsed the offer to its shareholders.

The firm is among the latest British transport companies to become the point of supreme focus for accession, joining the likes of FirstGroup and Stagecoach.

Go-Ahead suggested that the proposition is a captivating offer, further elaborating that the cash bid has valued the group 24% higher than its closing price on Friday, before the offer was made public.

The acquisition is set to conclude by October if the terms are accepted by shareholders. Allegedly, the leadership team would remain in place, as would the group headquarters in Newcastle and London.

Michael Sewards, co-CEO of Kinetic, has proposedly affirmed that the firm would not only provide Go-Ahead the long-term capital it needs, but also offer it the expertise it requires to transform the Go-Ahead bus fleet from fossil fuel to zero-emission technology.

As per reports, shares in Go-Ahead hiked up to 19% on Monday, the highest since the start of the pandemic in 2020 after the company said that it received two unsolicited offers, from Kelsian Group, another transport provider based out of Australia, and the Kinetic and Globalvia alliance.

The value of transport companies fell when coronavirus hit in March 2020 and the government advised the general public to avoid unnecessary travel.

The transport firm’s shares dropped by approximately 70% in a month at the beginning of the pandemic, as the United Kingdom rail franchising system was tossed.

Furthermore, as a result of an accounting scandal in 2021, Go-Ahead lost its long-term contract to trade on the London Stock Exchange in January, leading to another significant drop in its market value.

However, it has witnessed a steady growth since receiving a three-year contract for Southern & Great Northern Services, Gatwick Express, and Thameslink.