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MAN TO BUY 25% STAKE IN CHINESE MANUFACTURER SINOTRUK

MAN SE, Europe’s third-biggest truckmaker and a major manufacturer of buses and coaches, agreed to pay 560 million euros for a 25 percent stake in Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Ltd. as China’s demand for trucks avoids the worst of the global recession. The transaction includes the purchase of a combination of existing and new shares in Sinotruk, China’s biggest heavy- truck maker, Munich-based MAN said in a statement. The price is 21 percent more than Sinotruk’s average trading price over the past 60 days on the Hong Kong exchange, it said. Besides being a main truck manufacturer, Sinotruck also delivers drivelines to a number of major Chinese bus manufacturers.

First on-line business social community for European bus and coach operators launched!

 Busoperators.org is a unique and exciting concept in the European bus and coach sector – the first on-line social and professional network designed specifically for the industry. It provides an attractive new platform for business owners and professionals to form a cohesive community and make contact with potential partners and collaborators throughout Europe. 

YANTAI BUS MAKER PLANS TO BUILD PLANT IN RUSSIA

Chinese suburban buses manufacturer Yantai Shuchi Ltd plans to build production facility in the Krasnodar region of Russia, a Russian news agency reported recently, citing sources from local industry department.

VEOLIA AND KEOLIS INTERESTED IN TRANSDEV

French utility group Veolia Environnement, has reported being interested in combining its transport arm, Veolia Transport, with French company Transdev, a subsidiary of the Caisse de Depots et Consignations Group (CDC); the Paris public transport company RATP is holding 25 percent of the Transdev shares, 7 percent are held by the Italian bank Sanpaolo IMI.

FIRST BARBI-BODIED IRISBUS FOR 23 YEARS

Italian busbody manufacturer Barbi recently released a new coach body, called Gallileo af the founder of the company, which is not only available on Volvo chassis, the basis mainly used by Barbi in the past 23 years, but also on an Irisbus Eurorider chassis.