Germany’s FlixMobility acquires Greyhound Lines, the iconic U.S. bus company, in $78M deal

Germany’s FlixMobility acquires Greyhound Lines, the iconic U.S. bus company, in $78M deal

2 years ago
Anonymous $BH0TGXkyPe

https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/21/germanys-flixmobility-acquires-greyhound-lines-the-iconic-u-s-bus-company-in-78m-deal/

FlixMobility, the $3 billion-German transportation startup that has doubled down on long distance buses and slowly and quietly gobbled up transit lines and operations across Europe, today announced a big move to raise its game in the U.S. The company announced that it is acquiring Greyhound Lines, the iconic U.S. bus network, from UK-based owner FirstGroup. Flix said the deal — which includes a vehicle fleet, trademarks, and related assets and liabilities — has an enterprise value on a debt-free / cash-free basis of $46 million, with an unconditional deferred consideration of $32 million with an interest rate of 5% per annum alongside that.

FirstGroup acquired Greyhound back in 2007 in a bigger $3.6 billion deal, part of a bigger strategy to take on the U.S. market (it also bought Ryder, the yellow school bus network, around the same time). But more recently it has been divesting a number of its U.S. assets in a bid to focus more on the U.K. market. It had in fact been looking to sell the assets Flix has now acquired since 2019. FirstGroup hived off its Greyhound facilities last December for $138 million, and in April sold off the bulk of the rest of the business to EQT, but that did not include the Greyhound transit network.