THE DEAL
In May 1998, NPIL financed the £175 million acquisition of RoadChef Plc, the motorway service area (MSA) operator. NPIL fought off competition from more than 30 bidders, including industry competitors and other private equity houses.

The deal was the first acquisition of a UK Plc financed by a principal finance group. Management retained a 25% stake in the RoadChef business.

In March 2007 NPIL completed the sale of RoadChef to a subsidiary of Delek Real Estate, an Israeli property company quoted on TASE. Delek will assumed securitised bonds and other debt bringing the total consideration to £375m. At the point of exit, this implied an enterprise value of c. £425m had the securitisation bonds been repaid in full.

THE NPIL DIFFERENCE
NPIL was committed to a roll-up consolidation strategy and was willing to invest further capital in the company to achieve this. To this end, in 1998, MSA operators Blue Boar Group and Take A Break were acquired for £80 million. In 1999 the company opened two additional sites and a further site in 2001.

NPIL completed the securitisation of RoadChef in December 1998. This innovative financing was one of the first ever 'whole-business' securitisations in Europe. By accessing the long-term capital markets, the securitisation substantially reduced the cost of financing for the business.

In October 2001, NPIL and the other investors injected an additional £25m to allow RoadChef to finish the redevelopment of its estate and complete its transition into the UK motorists' MSA operator of choice.

In February 2004 RoadChef opened its 21st site at Norton Canes, on the new M6 Toll Road. This site has proved to be very popular and has again raised the standards against which MSAs will be judged. The RoadChef network now plays host to approximately 60 million visits by UK motorway users each year.

In April 2004 Martin Grant was appointed as CEO to take RoadChef on to its next stage of growth. Martin brought to the role many years of experience with Marks & Spencer, Allied Domecq, Whitbread and Inn Partnerships which he led to a highly successful sale in 2002.