DWS bid for Stagecoach declared ‘unconditional’

GERMAN infrastructure investor DWS has won the takeover battle for Stagecoach, writes Scott Wright.

Last night it was announced that DWS, which is owned ultimately by Deutsche Bank, had seen its offer for the Scottish bus giant declared unconditional. That came after DWS had secured valid acceptances of its offer in respect of 270,222,325 Stagecoach shares, representing 49% of the issued share capital.

Added to the 93,720,491 shares in Stagecoach acquired in March, which represented 16.99% of the issued share capital, it meant that as of 4.30pm yesterday DWS could count 363,942,816 shares (65.99%) towards its offer.

DWS tabled a cash offer of 105p per share for Stagecoach, valuing the company at £595 million, in March. The offer usurped an initial offer from National Express, which had seen an all-share merger worth

£1.9 billion previously accepted by the Stagecoach board. The National Express offer has now lapsed.

A Stagecoach spokesperson said: “We are pleased that shareholder acceptances have reached the required threshold to make the

DWS Infrastructure offer unconditional. This is a positive step for our company, our people, our investors, and wider stakeholders”.