The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has sold a 40% stake in a UK motorway services firm to private equity firm CVC Capital.
The £49bn (€66.9bn) USS bought Moto Hospitality – the UK’s largest motorway service station operator – in October this year.
USS said it had already worked with CVC, with which it has a “long-standing relationship, having worked together on other investment opportunities”.
“It became quickly apparent that CVC was best placed to help drive long-term, sustainable value generation and was the best partner,” the scheme said in a statement.
The stake was sold for an undisclosed amount.
Media reports suggest CVC paid around £400m.
Mike Powell, head of private markets group at USS Investment Management, said the deal was an “important step in the development” of USS’s direct investment strategy within private equity.
CVC’s Strategic Opportunities platform, he said, is “ideally aligned to USS’s long-term investment horizon and prudent approach to capital structures”.
The deal is the platform’s second.
Marc Boughton, managing partner of the platform, said: “Moto provides a valuable service to all motorists across the UK and is the perfect match for our platform.”
Moto, which has 45 locations and 6,000 staff, was founded in 2001.
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