Scottish businessmen and investors are reportedly joining together in a “Braveheart” bid for Mayflower Corporation’s TransBus subsidiary after it went into administration earlier this month.
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The Daily Telegraph newspaper said the bid has come about amid concern north of the border that venture capitalists could buy Mayflower and asset-strip the business.
TransBus employs about 2,800 workers, including 1,000 at the company’s plant in Falkirk. Other operations are in Guildford, Surrey and in Scarborough, the paper said.
According to the Telegraph, one large backer is understood to be Brian Souter, chief executive of Stagecoach, which opeates worldwide and brought forward a £15 million order for 150 buses last September.
Souter’s spokesman told the paper: “Like any customer, Brian Souter is monitoring developments.”
The bid is reportedly being co-ordinated by Hugh Nash, a director at Noble & Company, an Edinburgh-based investment bank. One source suggested to the paper he had backing from clearing banks, local management, suppliers and customers.
Nash reportedly told The Herald newspaper: “We have put together a consortium of people who are interested in making this a profitable business. In fact it is already a profitable business and we want to build on that.”
The Telegraph said Nash is hoping to meet the administrators from Deloitte & Touche this week so he can table a bid by April 21 – the deadline for bids for TransBus. He reportedly added: “We are not going to sell it on – our whole modus operandi is to grow the business.”
