It’s a deal that has been contemplated for many years.
New Flyer Industries Inc. announced this morning it will buy Motor Coach Industries International Inc. for $455 million.
The blockbuster deal combines North America’s largest highway bus manufacturer (MCI) and the largest urban bus maker (New Flyer) and focuses even more of the industry on Winnipeg (MCI had been run by a management team based in a Chicago suburb.)
The deal comes one week after New Flyer released one of the most successful quarterly results in some time.
Motor Coach has its main production facility in Winnipeg, a smaller one across the border in Pembina, N.D. and a large parts distribution centre in Louisville, Ken.
It has a total of 1,500 employees, about 900 of whom are in Winnipeg.
New Flyer is saying the deal, which is to close by the end of the year, will contribute to the bottom line and has already announced that it will increase dividends by 12.9 per cent from $0.62 to $0.70 per share annually at the close of the transaction.
New Flyer management going back close to 10 years has been dreaming about this kind of deal.
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