Independent UK law firm Burges Salmon is advising leading transport operator, FirstGroup plc, on its acquisition of RATP London from French transport group RATP Développement SA, for an enterprise value of £90 million. The deal is subject to approval from the French government (as the ultimate owner of the business) and is also conditional on TfL consent.
RATP London is one of the principal bus operators in London, comprising a fleet of around 1,000 buses, a third of which are fully electric, ten depots across Central and West London and employing c. 3,700 people.
Via its bus division, First Bus, FirstGroup is one of the largest regional bus companies in the UK, and a leading operator in the majority of its local areas, including major urban centres such as Glasgow, Bristol and Leeds. The acquisition of RATP London will deliver a c12% share of the London bus market.
Burges Salmon’s multi-disciplinary Transport sector group advised FirstGroup on Corporate, Tax, Commercial, Real Estate, Employment, Pensions and Insurance matters with the team led by Corporate and M&A partner Rupert Weston, director Julie Book and solicitor Manahil Qadir. Burges Salmon has worked with FirstGroup for well over 30 years and this is the fourth in a series of large scale projects completed for FirstGroup in the past six weeks, including a £500m train deal with Hitachi and a brace of acquisitions for First Bus division.
Rupert Weston of Burges Salmon, comments "We are very pleased to have supported FirstGroup on this significant acquisition. As ever we worked very closely with FirstGroup’s in-house team, maximising the benefits of our long term relationship, and deployed industry expertise from across the firm."
Christy Baker, General Counsel at FirstGroup, adds: “The Burges Salmon team pulled out all the stops to guide us through a significant deal for our business. In doing so they once again demonstrated their expertise and commercial approach.”