on 23 June 2018 after it was revealed that Stagecoach had overbid. In December 2018, it was announced that private equity house, Variant would acquire Stagecoach Group's US division for $271 million. The sale was completed in April 2019. In April 2019, Stagecoach was disqualified from participating in three rail franchise competitions by the Department for Transport after it submitted non-compliant bids for the East Midlands, South Eastern and West Coast Partnership franchises. A new set of liveries were introduced in February 2020 for British bus operations. Three colour schemes were to be used to reduce customer confusion: Local services- white with azure blue Longer distance - amber yellow Specialist services - white with ocean green (this includes park and ride, university and tourist services) In September 2021, National Express entered into talks to acquire Stagecoach Group. In December 2021, a deal was agreed between the boards of the two companies: however, it was subject to both shareholder approval and regulatory scrutiny. To satisfy the Competition & Markets Authority, Stagecoach sold Megabus, its 35% shareholding in Scottish Citylink and the Falcon Coaches part of Stagecoach South West to ComfortDelGro. Having originally recommended shareholders accept the National Express offer, in March 2022 the board of directors withdrew the recommendation in favour of a takeover offer from a DWS managed investment fund. In June 2022, Stagecoach purchased London bus operator Tower Transit's Lea Interchange garage, with Stagecoach London taking on 150 buses and 11 Transport for London bus route contracts; operations from Lea Interchange are managed under the Lea Interchange Bus Company Limited license. Later in August, Stagecoach acquired the London operations of the HCT Group after the company had fallen into administration, with Stagecoach acquiring a further 160 buses, 17 TfL route contracts and two bus garages from the acquisition. Operations Key people Stagecoach Group plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange. Founder Brian Souter and his sister Ann Gloag were the largest shareholders with a combined 26% shareholding at April 2019. UK operating companies The following is a breakdown of the Stagecoach operating divisions. The centre of each operating region is shown in parentheses. Legal company names are listed alongside the trading names for that company. Bus division Bus division operations are as follows: Brands Apart from the ordinary bus operations and no-frills services, the UK bus division has the following brands that extend across operating divisions. Stagecoach Express