National Express drives into US shuttle market with $84m deal
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Friday 12 Apr 2019
(Sharecast News) - Transport company National Express said it had bought a of 60% stake in WeDriveU, an employee shuttle company in Silicon Valley, for $84.3m (£64.5m) with an option to buy the rest over three years.
The deal was expected to be earnings accretive from completion, National Express said.
National Express said WeDriveU provides employee shuttle services to "many of the largest Fortune 500 companies" based in Silicon Valley and the broader San Francisco Bay Area.
"It also has a presence in several other fast-growing US cities (such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Portland, Denver and Austin), presenting other platforms for growth in the employee shuttle market," the company said.
National Express and WeDriveU management will retain call and put options, respectively, over the remaining shares, exercisable annually over the next three years, with the option price determined by WeDriveU's profitability.
National Express said it would form a new shuttle division within its North American business, led by the WeDriveU management team, to drive expansion in the employee, university and hospital shuttle markets - worth more than $5bn in annual revenue.
WeDriveU transports almost 7m passengers a year. In the year to December 31 2018, it generated annual revenues of $139.9 m, normalised EBITDA of $21.1m and normalised operating profit of $15.4m, National Express said in a statement.
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