FirstGroup signs £150m financing deal to buy electric bus bodies

(Sharecast News) - FirstGroup has signed a new £150m green hire purchase financing facility with a syndicate of three banks to support the purchase of electric bus bodies. The arrangement follows a joint venture agreed with Hitachi last November to buy up to 1,000 electric bus batteries.

The facility provides the funding for electric bus bodies, net of any government co-funding received, and is available for drawdown over three years, on a competitive fixed margin plus basis, FirstGroup said on Wednesday.

It added that it had continued to opportunistically buy its 2024 6.875% bonds, resulting in a reduction in future net interest cost. Purchases totalling £44m have been completed since the end of the first half of fiscal 2024 and at January 17, £128.1m of the 2024 bonds now remain outstanding.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com