London private taxi giant Addison Lee has agree to be bought by a Singapore-based transport group for £269 million, which is set to bring its services to cities outside the capital.
ComfortDelGro said the operator’s 7,500 drivers and 5,000 vehicles would be acquired by its subsidiary firm CityFleet Networks.
Addison Lee’s cars will expand into other UK cities including Liverpool, the Wirral, Chester and Aberdeen under CityFleet Network’s ownership, which runs its own private hire and black taxi services.
Addison Lee, which was founded in 1975 by Sir John Griffin, was previously owned by Sir John’s son Liam Griffin and Cheyne Capital.
It currently runs a premium car service in London, targeting business-related journeys across its fleet of vehicles, which include Mercedes cars.
ComfortDelGro is a Singapore-based transport firm which also owns the Metroline buses and Westbus coaches in London, Adventure Travel buses and coaches in Wales, and the Megabus, Scottish Citylink and Irish Citylink coach services.
It said the addition of Addison Lee will expand its taxi and private hire network to more than 34,000 vehicles around the world.
Liam Griffin, who is also Addison Lee’s chief executive, said ComfortDelGro was a “perfect fit” for the company.
“They share our philosophy, vision, and ambition for the Addison Lee brand and bring significant international industry expertise to the business,” he said.
ComfortDelGro’s chief executive Cheng Siak Kian said: “Beyond expanding our footprint in the UK, this acquisition will enable us to leverage Addison Lee’s expertise to deepen and scale our premium point-to-point capability globally.”
Addison Lee has been aiming to make its standard passenger fleet all-electric and has been rolling out Volkswagen electric cars and vans.
ComfortDelGro said buying the company would help with its own plans to electrify its fleet.