Former Green Flag chief executive leads £930m AA share buy

A management team led by former Green Flag chief executive Bob Mackenzie has made a commitment to buy a 69% stake in the AA worth £930m from parent company Acromas when it floats on the London Stock Exchange.

Following the sale, it is expected that Mackenzie will become the AA’s executive chairman, and work alongside current chief executive Chris Jansen and chief financial officer Andy Boland.

The shares will be bought by Cornerstone Investors, a consortium which includes Aviva, Blackrock, CRMC, GLG Partners, Henderson Global, Henderson Volantis, Invesco, L&G and Lansdowne Partners.

The remaining 31% of the company will be sold in shares when the AA floats at the same valuation of 250p per share.

The flotation is expected to value the company at £1.4bn.

Mackenzie said: “The AA is a very successful organisation with a strong record of serving its members and the needs of the UK motorist.

“We believe there are significant opportunities to grow the business, a sentiment shared by the high quality leading cornerstone investing institutions who have already committed over £930 million to the transaction.

“We believe that as a public company, backed by investors of this quality, the AA will have a core set of long term committed investors to support its continued growth and development.  

“The AA is a fundamentally strong business and underpinning our approach is a clear strategy to invest in systems and new technologies to further enhance the service provided to our members and customers; to steadily reduce the AA’s existing debt; and to develop the growth opportunities that we have identified.”