Roadside Real Estate to acquire Gardner Retail and subsidiaries

Investment and development firm Roadside Real Estate has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Gardner Retail and its subsidiaries as part of a deal worth up to £17.8m.

Roadside said on Wednesday that the Gardner Retail portfolio was made up of six "strategically located, premium-quality petrol station forecourts" in Southwest England, which it said generated £33.9m in revenues and £2.1m in adjusted underlying earnings for the twelve months ended 31 July.

In addition to seeing "significant opportunities to unlock additional value" through further development of the sites, the AIM-listed firm stated the acquisition laid the foundation to grow the its market position in the petrol forecourt sector and provide "a scalable platform" from which to pursue further consolidation opportunities.

In order to fund the acquisition, Roadside RE has agreed to amend the terms of its existing facility agreement with Tarncourt Properties in order to increase the maximum size of the facility available to the firm to £35m, with a total drawdown of £26.6m expected upon completion.

Chief executive Charles Dickson said: "This transaction marks the start of a new chapter in the execution of our strategy to build a high-quality portfolio of modern roadside retail assets and is a significant step in enhancing our competitive positioning.

"We are delighted to welcome the Gardner team to the Roadside family and we look forward to working with them to achieve our future goals and create value for our shareholders."

As of 0820 GMT, Roadside RE shares had ticked up 0.14% to 72.10p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com