Blazehill supports Ascona Group with £200m in total committed facilities alongside HSBC
09 Dec 2025
LONDON, November 2025 – Blazehill is pleased to announce the successful completion of £200 million in committed funding for Ascona Group, the 7th largest UK independent forecourt operator and one of the fastest growing companies in Wales.
This new facility 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 Group is headquartered in Pembrokeshire, with operations across England, Wales and Scotland. Ascona was founded in 2011 by CEO 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 over 400,000 customers every week. Ascona looks to create the ultimate roadside retail experience for customers, transforming sites via a process they call “Asconarisation” delivering world-class roadside retail destinations across the UK.
As part of the funding package, Blazehill have provided £130 million in committed financing, which includes a committed undrawn acquisition facility. The transaction was introduced by Trevally Capital, a long-term strategic partner to Ascona.
Darren Briggs, Founder & CEO of Ascona Group, commented: “We are delighted to complete this important transaction for Ascona. This new acquisition facility marks a new pivotal moment in our growth journey as we continue to strengthen our footprint as one of the UK’s largest innovative independent forecourt operators and one of Wales’s fastest-growing companies. We are incredibly grateful to Trevally Capital, HSBC UK and Blazehill for their support.”
Jake Hyman, Managing Director, Blazehill Capital, commented: “We look to back best-in-class management teams with tailored and scalable credit solutions to unlock value, and this transaction is a great case study. To deliver the financing alongside HSBC UK also highlights our market leading ability to co-exist with other, more traditional sources of capital, to the benefit of borrowers and sponsors. It’s been a pleasure working with the entire Ascona team over the last few months.”
Owen Vizard, Director, Debt Finance Origination, HSBC UK, commented: “We are pleased, alongside Blazehill, to be supporting Ascona Group with this significant deal which will help unlock the company’s impressive growth plans. Their investment in forecourts across the country matches our ambition to foster business growth and economic development.”
Ascona were supported by Simmons & Simmons, Trevally Capital and PwC.
Blazehill were supported by DLA Piper, Avison Young and Trevally Capital.
