By John Bowker

LONDON (Reuters) - Rail and bus firm First Group (FGP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) raised 236 million pounds in a share placing on Wednesday to help fund growth in the United States.

The company, which bought the owner of the Greyhound bus network Laidlaw for $3.5 billion (1.8 billion pounds) last year, said the placing would partly be used to refinance debt from the deal but would also go towards expansion.

"The truth is, we need flexibility in our balance sheet to continue growth plans," Chief Executive Moir Lockhead told reporters, adding there were still 5,000 privately owned school bus operators in the United States.

Synergies from the Laidlaw acquisition would now be a better than expected $150 million a year, up from an original forecast of $70 million, and the Greyhound business was now growing revenues, he said.

"The (Greyhound) buses were not punctual (when we bought the business). Only 60 percent were on time. In April we got that to just under 90 percent," Lockhead said.

Shares in First Group were down 8 percent at 551 pence at 1:03 p.m., valuing the company at 2.4 billion pounds. The 43.8 million new shares were placed with institutions at 540p each.

First Group said adjusted operating profit for the year to end March was up nearly 40 percent at 360 million pounds, in line with expectations, and that its outlook was positive.

Lockhead said the group had hedged fuel costs for all of this year and 10 percent of 2009/10, and that it was basing its policy on oil at $100-$120 a barrel.