National Express has announced the acquisition of Transportes Rober (Rober) in Spain for a headline consideration of €13 million, which represents 2.6 times EBITDA.

The acquisition of Rober, which has operated the urban bus contract in Granada for more than 20 years, represents a further step in consolidating the regional and urban bus markets, a strategy which ALSA has successfully executed in Galicia, the Basque Region and Leon amongst others. Granada is a major hub for long haul connections and builds on ALSA’s existing urban business in Almeria and regional services, consolidating our leadership position in Andalusia with a combined fleet of 650 vehicles and 1,900 employees.

Trading performance across the group continues to improve, slightly ahead of management expectations, and we have continued to win new contracts, notably in corporate shuttle both in North America and the UK. We will give a further update with the interim results on July 29.

Ignacio Garat, CEO of National Express said “I am delighted that in addition to maintaining tight control on costs, we are able to focus on growth and continue our successful ‘consolidate and compound’ strategy. The acquisition of Rober adds another revenue-protected contract to ALSA, consolidating its leadership position in another region, further diversifying its revenue streams and delivering operational synergies”.

Francisco Iglesias, CEO of ALSA said “The consolidation of regional and urban services in Andalusia will reinvigorate public transport across the region making it more attractive and easier to use”.