Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised the Tank & Rast group (“Tank & Rast”), a leading provider of German motorway service areas, in connection with its sale to a consortium formed by Allianz Capital Partners GmbH, Borealis Infrastructure Management Inc., Infinity Investments SA( a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority), and MEAG, Munich Re (Group)’s asset manager.

On behalf of Tank & Rast and in close consultation with the management board, the WFW team was closely involved in all stages of the sales process initiated by Terra Firma Capital Partners and Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management, from the drafting of pre-marketing materials through the due diligence process to the signing of the transaction.

In parallel and in connection with the sales process, WFW further advised Tank & Rast on the conclusion of a cooperation agreement with McDonalds Deutschland Inc., a call option agreement for shares in Cittadino GmbH and the acquisition of 70% of the shares in Bobby & Fritz GmbH.

WFW previously advised Tank & Rast on the refinancing of its external financial debt as well as on a subsequent repricing of its senior facilities.

The Tank & Rast group, with headquarters in Bonn, operates a network of motorway service areas including petrol stations and around 390 restaurants,  50 hotels,  220 bakery modules and  270 coffee bars.

The WFW team was led by Frankfurt-based partner Dr. Torsten Rosenboom (Corporate/M&A). He was supported by associates Sebastian Ens, Dr. Jan Winzen (both Corporate/M&A, Frankfurt), Dr. Andreas Wiegreffe (Employment Law, Hamburg) and Dr. Pascal Unger (Banking & Finance, Hamburg).

Dr. Torsten Rosenboom commented: “We are very pleased to have successfully advised Tank & Rast in this challenging matter. This helped us to further solidify the relationship between WFW and Tank & Rast. Being part of such a major and widely recognized transaction is a great success for the still young Frankfurt office of WFW. We are looking forward to further enhance this relationship upon closing of the transaction and in cooperation with the new owners of Tank & Rast.”