As part of Permira Holdings sale of the Travelodge hotel chain they commissioned WSP to undertake a vendor environmental due diligence assessment of their 273 hotels across the UK to inform the sale process.
When there are significant amounts of real estate involved, the potential for contaminated land is considered a significant risk. The client wanted to provide all bidders with a comprehensive assessment of those risks to ensure the sale process was not delayed and the sale price was not leveraged down.
Addleshaw Goddard recommended WSP Environmental to Travelodge because of the size of our UK Environmental Due Diligence team, as the task needed completing within a 3-week window. The Client had assumed that this work would need to be split between a number of suppliers.
Working closely with law firm Addleshaw Goddard, WSP Environmental prepared or updated 273 Environmental Desk Study reports. Each Desk Study evaluated the potential for an individual site to be contaminated from its current or historic use or from other current or historic land uses in the surrounding area. WSP then assessed the likelihood of any contamination identified or suspected to be potentially present, resulting in a business liability.
Given the UK’s extensive industrial history, numerous sites were noted to have been developed on potentially contaminative land and so the danger was that an overly negative picture of the sites could be painted. WSP's technical knowledge and experience was used to assess whether these liabilities were likely to arise.
Each Desk Study was presented in an individual report, fronted by an over-arching Executive Summary that provided additional guidance and understanding on the issues facing the portfolio of sites.
WSP Environmental’s report was delivered well within the timeframe and was accepted by the successful purchaser as part of the deal without them conducting their own assessment to validate the findings. The portfolio was purchased for £675 million by a Dubai based Private Equity fund.
“Travelodge found WSP to be exceptionally responsive to their requirements, and in particular to the tight timescales involved. Travelodge were impressed with how quickly WSP were able to pull together a large team with the ability to deliver this work within a very short time frame.
Throughout the process, we found WSP to be highly professional and very client focussed. WSP were available at short notice and were easily contactable throughout the process. Travelodge would have no hesitation in recommending WSP for similar work in the future.”
Travelodge’s Director of International Operations
Project information
Client: Travelodge Hotels Limited on behalf of Permira Holdings
Project size: 273 hotels across the UK
Project value: N/A
Status: completed