Australia-based transport firm Kelsian Group said on Thursday that it no longer plans to make an offer for Newcastle-headquartered bus and rail giant Go-Ahead Group.

Go-Ahead has already agreed to a £15-a-share offer from a rival consortium of Australia’s Kinetic Holding Co and Spain-based Globalvia Inversiones worth about £648 million.

“Unfortunately, recent Australian equity markets have been volatile and external events have adversely impacted the Kelsian share price since 14 June 2022 when Kelsian first announced it was considering a possible offer for Go-Ahead,” said Kelsian.

“The Kelsian board consider that Australian equity market conditions at this time do not enable Kelsian to pursue a possible transaction for Go-Ahead despite the long-term strategic and economic rationale of the potential transaction for Kelsian.”

Go-Ahead runs nearly a quarter of London’s buses, operates Govia Thameslink and also operates transport services in Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany.