Applegreen surges on possible €5.75 a share cash offer

Applegreen shares surged on Thursday after the Irish petrol station operator said it was in "advanced discussions" with a consortium including B&J Holdings Limited and Blackstone Infrastructure Partners about a possible cash offer of €5.75 per share.

The offer represents a premium of around 48.2% to the closing share price on Wednesday.

B&J Holdings already holds a 41.3% stake in Applegreen, which represents the holdings of the company’s founders, Robert Etchingham and Joseph Barrett. If a deal goes through, B&J Holdings Limited would retain a significant equity stake in the consortium and Etchingham and Barrett would maintain their current management positions as chief executive officer and chief operations officer, respectively.

Applegreen said that having considered the offer "carefully" together with its advisers, should the consortium or an entity controlled by the consortium announce a firm intention to make an offer, it the Independent Board intends to recommend unanimously that Applegreen shareholders accept it.

"The Independent Board believes the possible cash offer, if effected, would represent a compelling opportunity for shareholders in Applegreen to realise their investment at an attractive premium to the prevailing share price," it said.

Applegreen, which owns Welcome Break, said a further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.

At 0915 GMT, the shares were up 44% at 509p.