Buyout at Oxford
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• En one of the most keenlycontested purchases of a National Bus Company subsidiary to date, City of Oxford Motor Services was this week bought by a management team led by its managing director (now chairman) Arthur Townsend.
The purchase, the 13th management buyout of an NBC company, was completed against strong competition from both Stagecoach and another interested party, as yet unnamed.
City of Oxford Motor Services runs 157 buses, coaches and minibuses in and around Oxford, including the Citylink express service between London and Oxford.
All 500 employees of the company will be offered the chance to acquire shares; 20% of its equity has been put aside for this purpose . The eight-man management team was assisted in the purchase by the investment company 3i.
Townsend, 58, is the longest-serving managing director in the National Bus Company, and has been working on the buses for almost 40 years, starting as a bus conductor with Midland Red in 1947.