Trenitalia has completed the acquisition of Essex and London train operator c2c from National Express Group via its British subsidiary Trenitalia UK.

The deal, formally approved by the Department for Transport, will see c2c’s franchise continue to run until November 2029. As previously announced the total consideration of the deal has been confirmed in the region of £72.6 million.

FS Italiane, parent company of the Group, in its function as guarantor with the Department of Transport, has paid to the vendor an extra £35.0 million to settle an existing intercompany loan granted to the franchisee and in which it now acts as a lender.

Trenitalia intends to build on c2c’s existing strengths as one of the UK’s most punctual and popular train operators. The franchise will benefit from Trenitalia’s innovative technology, such as advanced ticketing, that will aim to provide to c2c customers with an increase in their overall quality of service. All of Trenitalia’s tech is proven in the highly competitive Italian railway market, and has been one of the most important drivers of the continued increase in customer satisfaction recorded in recent years.

c2c will continue to be led by Managing Director Julian Drury and will also maintain the current organisational structure.

In December 2015, Trenitalia became the first new entrant to be awarded a “PQQ Passport” by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom: this acquisition marks the first step in Trenitalia’s long-term plan to establish a major presence in the UK rail market.

On January 24th 2017 Trenitalia announced its participation, in a joint venture with FirstGroup, in bidding for the East Midlands and West Coast Partnership (which will include the HS2 line) rail franchise; due to be awarded in 2018.

Barbara Morgante, CEO of Trenitalia, said: "I am pleased that we have been able to conclude this acquisition so rapidly, and we can now immediately start to concentrate on the day-to-day business of c2c.  Under the leadership of Julian Drury, we will continue to focus on delivering the outstanding service that helped make c2c the best performing operator in the UK and we will collaborate with the management to introduce further improvements.

“In addition to the c2c acquisition, our recent participation in the East Midlands and West Coast Partnership bids shows that we are strongly committed to the UK market, and look forward to passengers increasingly benefiting from our experience, competence and ability to innovate.

“I am confident that the good relationship established with the DfT, demonstrated by our recent mutual cooperation during the Change of Control phase, will be strengthened and reinforced over the next years, and be leveraged in future common innovative projects in line with British passengers’ demand.”