Go-Ahead in talks with two bidders over takeover
Gatwick Express and Thameslink operator Go-Ahead group is considering offers from two bidders, as it becomes the latest British transport company to become a possible takeover target.
The company, which runs the UK ’s biggest commuter rail network, Govia Thameslink Railway, and is a leading provider of bus services in London and around the country, said it had received unsolicited possible offers from the Kelsian group and from a consortium of Kinetic and Globalvia Inversiones.
Go-Ahead said both conditional proposals were “at a level which, should a firm offer be made, the board would be minded to recommend to shareholders”.
Shares in Go-Ahead jumped 20% on Monday morning on the announcement, taking it to its highest level since 2020, when the company’s value collapsed at the start of the pandemic.
Kelsian is a Australian transport provider, listed in Sydney, where Go-Ahead has had previous contracts to modernise the rail system. Kinetic and Globalvia Inversiones are global infrastructure firms that are both largely owned by the Canadian pension fund OP Trusts.
Go-Ahead also has contracts to run rail and bus services in Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany.
The news comes after a turbulent year for Go-Ahead in which it was embroiled in an accounting scandal, with the discovery that it wrongfully kept more than £50m from the government over the course of its Southeastern rail franchise.
It was stripped of the contract, and trading in Go-Ahead shares on the London Stock Exchange was suspended in January after it failed to file accounts pending a fresh audit.
However, it has since won a further three-year contract to run the Thameslink, Gatwick Express, Southern and Great Northern services.
The bids for Go-Ahead come after rival
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