London,
15
June
2022
|
11:19
Europe/London

M3 Capital Partners Completes the Sale of Extra MSA Group, a Major Motorway Service Area Platform

M3 Capital Partners (M3) has completed the sale of Extra MSA Group (Extra) to a consortium of institutional investors. 

Extra is a market leading specialised developer and owner of strategically located Motorway Services Area (MSA) sites in the UK, with a vertically integrated platform of predominantly freehold sites operated through a landlord and tenant model.

Extra comprises eight MSAs, two dual sided MSA fuel filling stations and a pipeline of three MSA development projects. The operational MSA sites comprise: Cobham M25, Beaconsfield M40, Leeds Skelton Lake M1, Peterborough A1(M), Cambridge A14 (M11), Baldock A1(M), Blackburn M65, Cullompton M5 and two dual sided MSA fuel filling stations at Chesterfield M1, Winchester M3. The development sites are at Amersham M25, Solihull M42 and Warrington M62.

Led by CEO Andrew Long (co-investor and a founder of the original business in 1992), Extra is one of the longest-standing developers and owners of MSA sites in the UK. M3 has stewarded the business through significant growth over this period having invested significantly in the sites, having developed two major state-of-the-art MSAs at Cobham on the M25 (2012) and Leeds Skelton Lake on the M1 (2020), and having assembled the pipeline of three MSA developments.

M3 will retain ownership of London Gateway Services, a strategically located site on the M1, 10 miles northwest of the City of London.

The sale of Extra is M3’s second transaction in the sector within the last 12 months following the sale in November 2021 of the Ulysses portfolio of eight MSA sites which are operated by Welcome Break under long term leases.

M3 acquired Extra and the Ulysses portfolio in two transactions from the receivers of LBG and RBS in 2010 and 2013.

M3 and Extra were advised on the sale of Extra by CBRE, Harris Williams, Mayer Brown and Shoosmiths. The consortium was advised by Evercore and White & Case. The financial details of the transaction are confidential.

About M3

M3 is a global private equity real estate investor and advisor with over $15 billion of AUM and a track record of over $150 billion of transactions executed. Since its inception in 1991 the firm has pioneered new ways to invest in real estate, driven by in-house real estate and capital markets intelligence which it has accumulated throughout multiple real estate and broader economic cycles. M3 has invested in, and advised on, specialised strategies across a broad range of alternative real estate sectors globally and has an established network of investors and operators across the world. It has offices in London, Chicago, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Austin, Beijing, and Luxembourg.

About the consortium

The consortium comprises European pension funds and other midmarket infrastructure investors. Its investment in Extra will be managed by an independent special purpose vehicle whose partners comprises Hamish De Run and Michael Dinham; two highly experienced infrastructure professionals.