NABI sells Optare

North American Bus Industries Inc. (NABI) completed an agreement last week to sell its UK subsidiary, Optare Holdings Ltd. — a bus and coach manufacturer — to a management team led by two Optare executives.

Robert Coombes and Roger Fossey, managing director and finance director of Optare, respectively, bought the company for a total of £11.8 million British pounds, or approximately US$20.7 million.

NABI has owned Optare since 2000, and sales of Optare’s only Americanized product, the 30-foot 30-LFN, amounted to about 170 units to various U.S. operators, including Miami-Dade Transit, American Eagle Airlines and Thrifty Rental Car.

Under terms of the sale, NABI has entered an agreement with Optare to provide spare parts and technical services for the 30-LFN buses NABI supplied to its U.S. customers.