Go-Ahead Group agrees to higher offer from consortium

(Reuters) - Go-Ahead Group said on Thursday it had agreed to an increased buyout offer from Australia's Kinetic Holding and Spain-based Globalvia Inversiones, valuing the transport operator at 669 million pounds ($811.83 million).

Go-Ahead agreed in June to be bought by the consortium for 647.7 million pounds. Its shares have risen 24% since then.

Under the terms of the new deal, which includes a special dividend of 100 pence, Go-Ahead shareholders will get 1,550 pence for each share held, representing a premium of 3% to the stock's last close.

The previous offer had a special dividend of 50 pence per share.

Australian transit operator Kelsian Group Ltd confirmed last month it did not intend to make an offer for Go-Ahead, citing volatile market conditions.

British public transport operators have attracted takeover interest in recent months as buyers looking to cash in on the companies' low valuations are also enticed by the support packages from the government that have steadied the sector.

Go-Ahead, which runs more than 6,000 buses in England, is among transport takeover targets including FirstGroup and StageCoach.

In July, Go-Ahead said it expects its regional bus operations https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/britains-go-ahead-upbeat-2022-earnings-passenger-numbers-recover-2022-07-11 to deliver annual operating profit before exceptional items above that of the prior two years.

($1 = 0.8241 pounds)

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)