Dutch state railway to sell Abellio in UK management buyout

theguardian.com:

The Dutch state railway is to pull out of the UK with a management buyout of its subsidiary Abellio, which runs four rail lines and a number of London bus routes.

Abellio, which for 20 years has run East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and West Midlands Railway and employs 15,000 staff, is to be sold by the Netherlands state-run Nederlandse Spoorwegen to its UK management. The business will be operated by a new firm, to be known as Transport UK Group Limited.

The deal for the proposed buyout remains subject to formal approval from partners including the Department for Transport, Transport for London and Merseytravel, as well as regulatory consent from the Office for Rail and Road.

Abellio UK’s chief executive, Dominic Booth, is understood to be leading the buyout and will help fund the deal using his own money.

He said: “I’ve been a railwayman all my life. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to return key public transport services back into UK ownership at a time when some of our competitors look destined for overseas ownership.

“We expect the business to transfer by the end of the year, following which we will focus all our energies and expertise on continuing to deliver the best possible services for our passengers, investing in our train and bus routes, and helping to develop a future-ready, low-emission UK transport network.”

Abellio’s parent company said it decided to withdraw from the UK market “to focus on domestic service provision within, and international railway services to and from, the Netherlands”.

Sign up to First Edition

Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning

Booth added: “This deal will put us in a strong position to continue the