500m [pounds sterling] Welcome Break sold

Leisure Report, May, 2008

Appia, a consortium of infrastructure investors led by Dutch bank NIBC, has bought Welcome Break, the UK's second-largest motorway services operator, from Investcorp. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed but the price is understood to be around 500m [pounds sterling]. Investcorp bought the chain for 473m [pounds sterling] in 1997 and is thought to have invested more than 400m [pounds sterling] in the company since then, though a leveraged recapitalisation last year has allowed the private equity firm to recoup most of its original investment.

Welcome Break's 23 sites have an annual footfall of SO million people.