Preston Bus owner plans more acquisitions

ROTALA, the owner of Preston Bus, is looking to make further acquisitions after receiving £11m in funding from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The business bought Preston Bus from Stagecoach for £3m in January 2011.

Stagecoach had acquired the business in January 2009 for £7m but was forced to sell it by the Competition Commission which said the deal had “substantially” reduced competition in Preston.

Birmingham-based Rotala operates scheduled bus and private services. It has six depots across the West Midlands, North West, South West and Heathrow and carries around 35 million passengers a year.

Chief executive Simon Dunn said: “The agreed suite of increased and flexible facilities will help us to deliver on our short and medium-term strategic objectives, as well as allowing us to respond quickly to future opportunities.”

RBS’s Ben Dawson said: “RBS is delighted to support the management of Rotala by providing a new facility suite. This encompasses a significant increase in facilities to underpin Rotala’s growth strategy.”