euro garages

Euro Garages has bought all of collapsed independent retailer rival High Noon Stores’ remaining sites.

The forecourt operator snapped up four leaseholds for petrol stations from the stricken group in the South West.

The deal comes two weeks after the Blackburn-based company paid a total of £1m for High Noon Stores’ Wye Cottage, Royal Wootton Bassett, Downs Filling Station in Cowbridge, and Whitemill forecourts.

“These acquisitions follow a carefully planned growth strategy and supplement our existing international portfolio well,” said Euro Garages CEO Zuber Issa.

“Since the beginning of February alone, we have completed the acquisitions of the UK-wide Little Chef site portfolio and the former High Noon petrol forecourts. Each of these deals were handled entirely in-house, demonstrating the quality of our team and our ability to bring deals to a close very quickly.”

Euro Garages intends to re-open the sites within the next few weeks after refurbishment and re-imaging.

High Noon Stores had operated 15 convenience stores and forecourts across South Wales, but fell into administration at the end of 2016.

Speaking earlier this month, Smith & Williamson, appointed administrators on 27 January, said it was progressing on deals for the four remaining sites following High Noon’s collapse, with five being handed back to lease owners Brecon Properties One.

Two of the properties were unable to be sold as their licences had expired, the company said.

Property expert Christie & Co oversaw the deal.

“Both processes illustrate that a carefully planned and executed sales process involving multiple buyers is likely to result in the best deal for vendors,” said Christie & Co managing director of retail Steve Rodell.