Shareholders give First Group the green light to sell US school bus and transit divisions for £3.3bn
First Group shareholders have voted in favour of allowing the firm to sell its US school bus and transit divisions for £3.3billion.
Just 61.3 per cent of investors in the train and bus business voted in favour of the deal with 38.7 per cent rejecting it.
Only 50 per cent of shareholders needed to agree to the deal for it to be approved.
All aboard: First Group shareholders have voted in favour of allowing the firm to sell its US school bus and transit divisions for £3.3bn
Bosses sold the First Student and First Transit businesses to EQT Infrastructure more than a year after first announcing plans to quit North America following pressure from activist investors.
First Group’s largest shareholder, activist investor Coast Capital, had said it would vote against the deal, saying it undervalued the divisions.
Coast wrote to First Group’s board demanding yesterday’s vote be pushed back by 60 days to allow for an independent valuation for the businesses.
But the firm refused and held the vote, which was also criticised by its second-largest investor Schroders.