By Frank Prenesti
Date: Thursday 31 Dec 2020
LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Transport operator FirstGroup has sold three Greyhound bus terminals for $137m (£102m) as it rationalises its property portfolio in North America.
The company is trying to offload the iconic coach business, which operates throughout the US and Canada and was acquired by FirstGroup in 2007 for £1.9bn, to focus on bus and rail operations in the UK.
The largest is the sale of Greyhound's legacy garage and customer terminal facility in the downtown arts district of Los Angeles, California to a subsidiary of Prologis, Inc for $88m net in cash.
Greyhound will lease back the facility for two years and then move its terminal "to a more convenient and attractive location for customers and of its garage operations to a more appropriately-sized site elsewhere".
The other two property disposals are of facilities in Denver, Colorado for net proceeds of $37m and in Ottawa, Ontario for $7m. Proceeds from the transactions will be used for general corporate purposes.
FirstGroup is also trying to offload its First Student and First Transit operations across the Atlantic and earlier this month said it was "in discussions with a number of credible potential buyers who have a long-term perspective, which the company and our advisers are exploring and evaluating".