Ascona ‘growth journey’ gets £200m funds boost

ASCONA Group has secured a new £200m funding facility to support its ambitious growth plans to nearly double its forecourt presence across the UK.

- SION BARRY Business editor [e-mail]

The Pembroke Dock-based business, which is the seventh largest UK independent forecourt operator, has secured the facility from Blazehill Capital.

The funding has been put in place to refinance a portion of existing senior debt and provide committed acquisition facilities to allow Ascona to capitalise on rapidly increasing market opportunity to expand their estate. The financing has been provided alongside HSBC UK Corporate Banking. Ascona was founded in 2011 by its chief executive Darren Briggs and embarked on its high-growth strategy in 2017. Since then, the business has gone from two to 70 sites across the UK, serving more than 400,000 customers every week.