Applegreen, the Irish fuel retail group, has walked away from a contentious 35-year deal to operate 18 motorway service areas in Massachusetts, 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, has been challenging the decision in court since Applegreen was selected in June.
“After three months of good faith negotiations, Applegreen and MassDOT have not reached agreement on definitive terms for the redevelopment of 18 motorway service areas in Massachusetts,” Applegreen said in a statement.
“The open issues have significant implications for the commercial viability of the concession award. These commercial realities have been coupled with costly and continued litigation threats from an opposing bidder that have jeopardised the project’s timeline and financing.
“In light of these circumstances, Applegreen has terminated ongoing lease discussions.”
Global Partners vehemently contested the MassDOT bid award, claiming its offer was superior. It filed a lawsuit in a Boston court on September 15th in a bid to stop the deal going through.
In late August, Applegreen founder and executive chairman Bob Etchingham said Global Partners had engaged in a “campaign of misinformation – repeating the same falsehoods and baseless allegations in an attempt to reverse a process that was fair [and] supported by third-party experts".
Applegreen entered US market in 2014 when it bought two sites in Long Island.
Full story Applegreen drops Massachusetts service stations deal amid litigation threats – The Irish Times
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