National Express gets bid from Cosmen

Passengers walk past a National Express East Coast line train at Waverley Station in Edinburgh, July 1, 2009.

LONDON (Reuters) - National Express has received an all-cash takeover proposal from Spanish major shareholder the Cosmen family and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, sending the shares up 8 percent.

CVC said in a Friday statement it had made the indicative approach, which follows a rejected offer for the bus and train operator from rival FirstGroup late last month.

The private equity group said it was working alongside the Cosmens, an 18.7 percent National Express shareholder. The shares were up 8.3 percent to 349.5 pence by 10:16 a.m., valuing the company at 535 million pounds.

National Express has become a takeover target following heavy losses in its UK rail division, a 1 billion pound debt-pile and the departure of its Chief Executive.

(Reporting by John Bowker, Editing by Lorraine Turner)