National Express owner Mobico to go private in £308m Spanish takeover
Birmingham-based transport group Mobico, the owner of National Express, has agreed a £308m cash takeover by a consortium led by its largest shareholder.
Leita Mobility, owned by Autobuses de León (AdL), has made a firm offer of 46p a share. AdL is jointly held by Spain’s CMC Group and Madrid-based infrastructure investor Asterion.
The offer confirms the terms of a proposal Mobico said last week it was minded to recommend. The £308m value includes shares still to be issued, as well as the 614 million already in issue. Including debt, the deal values the group at around £2.3bn.
The offer is a premium of around 55% to Mobico’s closing share price of 29.7p on 20 October, the day before it confirmed the approach.
Today’s announcement shows that AdL first approached the board on 4 August with an offer of 38p a share, and raised it to 46p after negotiations.
The Cosmen family’s CMC Group has been a shareholder since selling Spanish coach operator Alsa to the business in 2005, and holds around 26% of Mobico. Mobico’s independent directors intend to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour.
The board said the group’s “financial position remains challenging”. It said that remaining independent would probably mean a full refinancing before its debt falls due in May 2027.
The buyers said they would keep Mobico’s operating presence in the UK, make no material changes to its main brands, and fully protect existing employment and pension rights. They also plan to back the turnaround of its UK Coach business, which will be brought under Alsa. UK Coach revenue fell 16.7% in the second quarter.
But the announcement warned that Mobico’s current strategy “may result in further headquarter functions being relocated to Spain either prior to or following completion of the Acquisition”. Some functions have already moved.
It added that some head office and support roles, including those linked to Mobico’s stock market listing, “are likely to no longer be needed” once it goes private. It said the resulting redundancies are not expected to be material.
The takeover is separate from Mobico’s £24m sale of its West Midlands bus operations to the West Midlands Combined Authority. That deal is expected to complete by the end of November, with around 4,350 staff transferring.
In its second-quarter trading update in September, the group reported 5% revenue growth, driven by Alsa and a recovery in German Rail.
Phil White, non-executive chair of Mobico, said: “We believe the offer represents a good outcome for Mobico’s stakeholders and provides shareholders with value and certainty.
“Despite the recent strategic progress, the financial position of the business remains challenging with the cash outflows associated with legacy liabilities constraining our capacity to reduce net debt.”
Felipe Cosmen Menéndez-Castañedo, vice chairman of the CMC Group, said: “Our family has been a supportive, long term shareholder of Mobico since 2005. We have great confidence in the company, its management team and its future.”
The deal is expected to complete in the first half of 2027, subject to shareholder, court and regulatory approval. Mobico’s shares will then be delisted from the London Stock Exchange.
Mobico employs around 30,000 people and runs around 13,400 vehicles across 11 countries.
