National Express Group today announced it completed the acquisition of Petermann Partners Inc., headquartered in Cincinnati and the fifth-largest student transportation provider in the United States.
Petermann now is part of National Express Corp., the North America subsidiary, which includes Durham School Services in the U.S. and Stock Transportation in Canada. The acquisition adds 20,000 buses to National Express’ fleet size across North America.
“We are thrilled to add this solid brand to our U.S. operations, and are excited to welcome Petermann customers and employees to our family,” said National Express Corp. CEO David Duke.
Pete Settle, Petermann’s CEO, added: “National Express is the perfect home for Petermann. Petermann employees share Durham’s focus of their values of safety, people, customer and community; we are proud to be part of the National Express family.”
According to a company statement, the deal was completed May 1, the same time the U.S. Department of Justice announced that National Express and Petermann agreed to sell eight school bus contracts and associated assets in Texas and Washington State so a proposed merger can proceed.
National Express and Petermann are divesting the eight contracts to Student Transportation of America to assuage concerns by the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, which worked with the Texas and Washington State Attorneys General offices during the investigation. The Texas school districts are Bastrop, Boyd, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Leander, Manor and Terrel, while the Washington State districts are Battle Ground and Hockinson.
“The sale of the assets will help ensure continued competition for school bus contracts, which will benefit taxpayers in Texas and Washington,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joseph Wayland in a statement.
National Express and Petermann agreed to complete the divestitures of school bus operations within the next 30 days or to have a court monitor the transactions at that time. The DOJ added that the respective school districts are in the process of approving the transfer of contracts.
Last September, National Express announced its intent to acquire Petermann for $200 million. National Express has annual revenues of more than $700 million, while Petermann Partners has revenues of approximately $150 million.
