State-owned German railway group Deutsche Bahn is to buy British public transport firm Arriva, which operates bus services and some trains in large parts of the Netherlands.

The 775p per share cash offer, approved by Deutsche Bahn’s supervisory board on Wednesday evening and unanimously recommended by Arriva, values the group at about £1.5bn, the Financial Times reports.
‘Outside of Germany we intend to keep the brand Arriva for our regional passenger transport activities in Europe,’ CEO Rüdiger Grube said.
The deal means two major Dutch public transport firms will be owned by foreign governments.
Regional bus firm Connexxion is for two-thirds in the hands of French-led consortium Transdev/BNG. Transdev is a subsidiary of France’s state-owned Caisse des Dépôts.