TORONTO — Student Transportation of America Ltd. (STA) has agreed to sell, on a private placement basis, more than 8 million common shares to two investors, for gross proceeds of $50 million.

The first investor, purchasing 6,557,377 common shares for $40 million, is SNCF Participations S.A., a subsidiary of Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français, the French National Railway.

The second investor is the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which is purchasing 1,709,402 common shares for $10 million. The Caisse is currently STA’s largest shareholder.

The transactions are expected to close on or around Friday.

STA officials said that the company will use the net proceeds from the private placements to repay amounts outstanding under its growth credit facility and to fund future growth opportunities, including acquisitions, new contract bids and conversions.

In connection with the investment by SNCF Participations, STA agreed to expand its board of directors to eight members and to appoint Jean-Pierre Farandou, director of SNCF’s Public Transport Division, to the STA board.

“We are delighted to have SNCFP make this substantial investment in STA and are excited to have Jean-Pierre join our board,” said Denis Gallagher, STA’s chairman and CEO. “We are also very pleased that the Caisse de dépôt continues to demonstrate confidence and commitment to STA by increasing its investment.”