Rotala, the AIM-listed plc that runs the Diamond Bus and Preston Bus brands, has bought family-run Hansons (Wordsley) Ltd.
It runs local buses under the Hanson’s Local Bus brand around Stourbridge, to the south of the West Midlands conurbation, using 30 ADL Darts and Enviro200s on 19 routes.
The firm was set up in the early 1980s as a driver training operation in Wordsley, near Stourbridge, by Margaret Hanson, 72. It then moved into coaching, and expanded into buses at the 1986 deregulation.
Today, she runs the company along with her daughter Louise Starkey, 51.
To fund the undisclosed purchase price, and “another privately held bus business which is at an advanced stage of negotiation”, Rotala has offered a share subscription to existing holders to raise £3.5m.
It says some of the proceeds will also “be deployed towards further acquisition opportunities in the near to mid-term.”
Hansons is close to Rotala’s Diamond Bus-branded operation in Redditch and Kidderminster, bought from First in 2013.
Along with operations in Bristol, Preston and the North West, plus its Hallmark coach operation, Rotala runs 600 vehicles, and has a Stock Market capitalisation of £25m
