BUS and train group Go-Ahead has rejected a £326m takeover bid from a French consortium.

The consortium, consisting of Industrial group Caisse des Depots Developpment (C3D) and private equity firm Rhone Capital, made a 650p-a-share cash offer.

The offer followed Go-Ahead's rejection of a similarly valued approach by the same group at the end of July.

Go-Ahead chairman Sir Frederick Holliday described the latest bid as an "unwelcome and wholly inadequate" approach.

He added: "Their unwelcome offer has been pitched at a level which fundamentally fails to recognise the unique nature and strengths of the Go-Ahead's business, its past performance and its prospects.

"This opportunistic offer seeks to deprive our shareholders of the enhancement in value which the company could create through its current strategy," he added.

A successful bid by the consortium would have meant payouts of more than £1m for Go-Ahead bosses, including founder and managing director Martin Ballinger and commercial director Christopher Moyes.

A bid at 650p-a-share would value founder Mr Ballinger's 3.6 million shares at £23.4m and Mr Moyes' 2.86 million shares at £18.6m.

The company earlier this year reported half-year pre-tax profits of £22m against £21.4m at the same stage last year.

Shares in Go-Ahead, which soared 20 per cent on the back of last month's offer, were largely unaffected by the failure of the latest bid.

They fell 1p to 675p during trading on the London Stock Exchange.

A spokeswoman for the C3D consortium said it had seen the response and had "no further statement to make at this time".

Go-Ahead operates bus services across the country as well as the Thames Trains franchise, one of the services involved in last year's Paddington rail crash.