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BP PLC on Thursday said it is buying travel centre operator TravelCenters of America Inc for $1.3 billion, to boost its electric vehicle charging offering. The announcement comes a day after BP said it is investing $1 billion in electric vehicle charging across the US by 2030. The London-based oil major said the acquisition brings growth opportunities for four of its five transition growth engines: convenience, EV charging, biofuels/renewable natural gas and hydrogen. BP said the acquisition of Nasdaq-listed TravelCenters is priced at $86 per share, compared to its closing price of $49.44 on Wednesday. TravelCenters shares surged 71% to $84.67 each in pre-market trading in New York. BP shares were virtually unaffected, 0.5% higher at 562.50 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon. BP expects the acquisition to add to its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation immediately, growing to around $800 million in 2025. The purchase is around six times of TravelCenters’s annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, BP said. It expects the acquisition to deliver over 15% returns and be enhancing to free cash flow per share from 2024. BP explained that TravelCenters has a strategically-located network of highway sites. ‘It will provide options to expand and develop new mobility offers including electric vehicle charging, biofuels, renewable natural gas and later hydrogen, both for passenger vehicles and fleets. ‘Convenience is one of bp’s five strategic transition growth engines, in which it aims to significantly grow investment through this decade. By 2030, bp aims for around half its annual investment to go into these transition growth engines. Over 2023 to 2030 it aims that around half of its cumulative $55 to $65 billion transition growth engine investment will go into convenience, bioenergy and EV charging,’ BP said. On Wednesday, BP said it was planning to invest $1 billion in electric vehicle charging across the US by 2030, to help Estero, Florida-based vehicle rental firm Hertz Corp to meet its expanding EV rentals target. The investment aims to bring fast charging infrastructure to Hertz locations in major cities such as Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and Washington, DC, though it didn’t say how many new stations the programme would deliver. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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