Applegreen, the service station retailer, has raised £156m through a new share placing to part-fund the acquisition of Welcome Break.
The group expects to complete the £321.6m deal to acquire Welcome Break next month.
The placing sees 28,782,895 new shares issued at 543p, which has been taken up by a combination of new and existing shareholders.
The company’s market value is now £654m.
Bob Etchingham, chief executive of Applegreen, said: “We are delighted with the very strong support and encouragement received from existing shareholders and from new investors for the Welcome Break transaction and related Placing. This acquisition is transformational for our company in the strategically important UK market and we look forward to completion at the end of October. Building a wide and high quality investor base in parallel with expanding our business across chosen markets are core objectives and this transaction and associated equity raise significantly advances that strategy.”
