Addison Lee to be bought by Singapore-listed group in £269mn deal

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Addison Lee, the UK-based private-hire taxi and courier company, has agreed to be bought by Singapore-listed transport conglomerate ComfortDelGro in a deal valuing the business at £269.1mn.

ComfortDelGro, a multinational company with operations ranging from taxis to rail and London buses, is buying Addison Lee from a consortium led by chief executive Liam Griffin and Cheyne Capital.

On Wednesday ComfortDelGro said the acquisition, to be done through its UK subsidiary CityFleet Networks, would enable it to expand into the “premium mobility segment” and help its shift towards clean energy vehicles.

The combined group’s taxi and private hire network will consist of more than 34,000 vehicles globally upon completion of the deal.

The transaction marks the third change of ownership in just over a decade for Addison Lee, as the London taxi market has been disrupted by ride-hailing apps such as Uber, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Private equity group Carlyle bought the business from the Griffin family, Addison Lee’s founders, for £300mn in 2013. The purchase came just as ride-hailing apps were beginning to shake up the London market.

Griffin, the son of Addison Lee’s founder, bought the business back in 2020 “at a significant discount” to the £300mn as part of a consortium of investors led by Cheyne Capital.

The owners restructured the business and refocused it on London’s premium and corporate customers.

“We have sat in this premium niche we think people are prepared to pay for,” Griffin told the Financial Times in March. He will remain as chief executive of the company, which returned to profit in 2023 following the pandemic.

On Wednesday, Griffin said ComfortDelGro had “a clear understanding of our customers’ and drivers’ needs” and would bring “significant international industry expertise to the business”.

The acquisition increases the Singaporean group’s presence in the UK, where it already operates services including the Megabus inter-city coach service and nearly a fifth of the London bus network through its Metroline business.

It said Addison Lee would also complement CityFleet’s existing operations in north-west England and Scotland.

“Beyond expanding our footprint in the UK, this acquisition will enable us to use Addison Lee’s expertise to deepen and scale our premium point-to-point capability globally,” said ComfortDelGro’s chief executive Cheng Siak Kian.

ComfortDelGro’s international operations include its French unit, which will begin operating part of the Paris Métro Line 15 by the end of 2025.

It is the largest taxi operator in Singapore, where it also operates a fleet of more than 3,000 buses and 83km of rail network.