Aberdeen transport company FirstGroup saw its shares shoot ahead yesterday by nearly 6% to 126.4p after its board confirmed it was considering a renewed takeover bid worth up to £1.23billion.
The offer is from private equity group I Squared Capital.
The UK bus and train operator said the bid consists of a cash component of 118p per share and a "contingent right" of "up to a further 45.6p per share" based on the outcome of payouts due to the company following disposals last year.
FirstGroup shares fell to under 74p last July.
In a statement, the company's board said it had received "a series of unsolicited, conditional proposals" from I Squared Capital, and was evaluating the latest approach.
It added: "FirstGroup shareholders are strongly advised to take no action in relation to the approach from I Squared. A further announcement will be made if and when appropriate."
FirstGroup finally appointed a new boss in April - several months after its last chief executive left amid pressure from an activist investor.
Graham Sutherland's spent 12 years at BT where he held several senior positions, including chief executive of the BT business and public sector division.
The Scot was also chief executive of KCOM Group, a telecommunications company, from 2018 until its sale to a Macquarie-managed infrastructure fund a year later.
Mr Sutherland, 58, has just taken up his new role.
David Martin, FirstGroup's executive chairman, said the new CEO had "a strong track record in the delivery of critical services and in creating value for shareholders in rapidly-evolving regulatory and technological environments".
The company has been without a chief executive since last September, when Matthew Gregory left after Coast Capital, an American hedge fund that was then the biggest shareholder, criticised his competency and said that he should go.
Mr Gregory's final act was to deliver the £3.3billion sale of most of FirstGroup's US business, including its yellow school buses.
The Times reported last month that Coast had been agitating for the group to be split up, but was not impressed by the deal as investors shared only £500million of the proceeds.
Mr Sutherland, who was born raised in Inverness, is the company's fourth CEO since Sir Moir Lockhead led a buyout of Grampian Transport in 1989 to found the firm.
FirstGroup's current operation include First Bus, the second-largest regional bus operator in the UK. It serves two-thirds of the UK's 15 largest conurbations, including Glasgow, Bristol and Leeds, and has a fifth of the market outside London.
The company also has First Rail, the UK's largest rail operator. It runs four Government-contracted operations - Avanti, GWR, SWR, TPE - and open access operations Hull Trains and Lumo.
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was up seven points at 7,572 shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday's 42-point gain.
Brent crude futures were almost static at $117.55 a barrel.
No major companies are reporting today.