Applegreen’s Welcome Break motorway service area business in the UK has completed an £815 million (€937 million) refinancing, which includes a £200 million undrawn facility to fund growth.
The deal with a group of banks comes as the unit has also signed a 75-year lease extension on eight of its sites in England, with plans to further invest in the locations.
Welcome Break operates 60 service areas and 31 hotels, and employees more than 6,000 people.
“These two transactions are great news for Welcome Break, as we continue to grow our operations in the UK,” said Applegreen chief executive Joe Barrett.
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“We have a strong pipeline of development locations, and we are also continuing to invest in our existing network of sites. The new long-term leases agreed at eight of our motorway service areas also give us the certainty to enhance our customer service offering and expand our EV charging network at these locations.”
The developments come weeks after Applegreen walked away from a contentious 35-year deal to operate 18 motorway service areas in Massachusetts in the US, amid continuing legal threats from the underbidder for the contract.
The Dublin-based group, which is backed by US private equity giant Blackstone, had planned to invest more than $750 million (€636 million) in the network.
Fuel supplier Global Partners, which had been seen as the favourite to be selected by the Massachusetts department of transport (MassDOT), has been challenging the decision in court since Applegreen was selected in June.
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It runs more than 100 US motorway service areas, where it operates restaurant and cafe brands such as Burger King, Shake Shack, Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Starbucks, Dunkin’, Panera Bread and Panda Express.
Applegreen was founded by executive chairman Bob Etchingham in 1992 with one station in Ballyfermot, west Dublin. Having floated on the Irish stock market in 2015, it was subsequently taken private six years later by Blackstone in a €718 million deal, which enabled Mr Etchingham and Mr Barrett to retain a combined 42.5 per cent stake in the group.
Applegreen sold its British filling station business to rival EG On The Move earlier this year for an undisclosed sum, while retaining the Welcome Break motorway services business. The filling stations unit had 98 sites. The company said it would use the proceeds from the transaction to invest in its business in Ireland, the UK and the US.
The group has almost 200 locations in the Irish market. The company typically invests more than €30 million a year in the Irish market on store openings, upgrades and improvement.
