FirstGroup strikes £3.3bn deal to sell iconic yellow school buses in US
Train and bus operator FirstGroup has announced this morning the sale of two of its US divisions for £3.3bn to EQT Infrastructure, a year after putting the businesses up for sale.
Bosses at the firm said the cash raised from offloading First Student, the operator of famous yellow US school buses, and First Transit will be used to pay down debt, top up the group’s pension schemes and hand back cash to shareholders.
FirstGroup, which runs the Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and TransPennine Express, alongside city centre bus routes, said £300m of the cash would be used to repay Covid-19 loans taken out during the crisis.