Metropolitan European Transport (MET), the German bus group run by senior UK transport managers, has secured £8.3million from a UK bank-owned investment company to allow it to purchase more operators and compete for tendered work.
MET was founded in 2011 with a focus on providing local and regional bus services in Germany. It operates from two regional hubs, based in Frankfurt and Cologne, providing local bus services, special needs transport and school transport for local authorities, government entities and corporate bodies.
Chief executive officer of the UK-based team is David Leeder, a former main board director at FirstGroup and CEO of Travel West Midlands Travel. Chief finance officer is a former First UK Bus finance director, Guy Houston, who has also held senior finance roles at Transport Scotland and Stagecoach UK Bus. Chairman is Iain Lanaghan, a cofounder of transport group Abellio and former FirstGroup CFO.
Funding has come from the Business Growth Fund, jointly owned by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered, which exists to support small and medium sized UK growth businesses.
‘We see many opportunities for profitable growth through both the consolidation of small bus businesses, and as more local authorities place transport services to public tender,’ says Leeder.
