FirstGroup is facing a shareholder revolt against plans to flog its yellow school bus division to private equity buyers.
Last night top investor Coast Capital threatened to take legal action against the UK transport giant if the £3.3billion sale to Sweden’s EQT went ahead.
Coast branded the deal a ‘destructive proposal’ and called for delays so that an independent valuation of the bus business could be carried out.
‘Destructive proposal’: FirstGroup’s First Student division is the biggest operator of school buses in North America, running a 43,000-strong fleet
The firm is backed by other shareholders including Schroders, the second-biggest. However Columbia Threadneedle, the third-biggest investor, supports the sale.
FirstGroup’s First Student division is the biggest operator of school buses in North America, running a 43,000-strong fleet.
Activist investors including Coast have long pressed Firstgroup to sell the division and use the proceeds to return more cash to shareholders.
But Coast founding partner James Rasteh said the deal reached was ‘terrible’.
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