Kwik Fit, the UK’s leading automotive servicing and repair company, has completed the buy-back of a portfolio of 83 of its centres from the Hong Kong based Spring Real Estate Investment Trust. The completion of the deal brings the total number of centres which the company has bought this financial year to 115.
These property deals include centres right across the country – from northern Scotland to the South West of England.
The purchases are a result of Kwik Fit’s strategy to increase the number of freehold properties within its network – giving it greater long-term control over its estate. The previous year (ending March 2024) saw the company add 24 properties to the number of centres it owns, and the deal with Spring REIT has enabled Kwik Fit to make a significant step change in rebalancing the make-up of its portfolio.
Paul Dempsey, Group Property Director of European Tyre Enterprise Ltd (ETEL), Kwik Fit’s parent company, said: “We are in a continual process of developing our estate to meet the long term ambitions for the group. Having ownership over a larger proportion of our network gives us greater control and freedom and also simplifies the management of many of our properties. We have an ongoing brief to look for suitable sites to add to our estate. Although the focus of these recent deals has been on purchases, we are also considering further leasehold properties.”
Kwik Fit has recently opened new centres in Abingdon and Selby, and will shortly open a new site in Rushden, with further locations in the pipeline for this year. In addition to its Kwik Fit operations, ETEL is also rolling out bicycle servicing workshops under the Fettle brand across the UK.
The 83 centres in the purchase from Spring REIT had been sold and leased-back by Kwik Fit when under the ownership of private equity company PAI Partners between 2005-2011. Kwik Fit became part of ETEL in 2011.
