It is getting nasty.
Applegreen, the Irish company which recently won a 35 year lease to manage 18 rest stops in the Commonwealth, has had enough of Waltham-based Global Partners, which lost out on the bid and has since been drawing attention to what Global alleges was a flawed selection process.
Global currently manages 4 of the 18 service plazas.
“A sense of entitlement motivated Global Partners to launch an orchestrated smear campaign against those involved in the MassDOT procurement process,” Applegreen, a Blackstone company asserts.
Applegreen has launched a dedicated website to telling their side of the story, tellthetruthglobal.com, strongly implying that Global hasn’t been completely honest.
Specifically, Applegreen alleges to accurately compare the bids the comparison must be made in 2025 dollars not in total dollars over the life of the 35 year lease. After converting, “the total difference between the two bids over the 35-year term in today’s dollars, is just $19M,” according to Applegreen.
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Additionally, tellthetruthglobal.com declares:
“Since losing on the merits, Global has launched a public campaign filled with misleading numbers, selective facts, and personal attacks — all designed to cast doubt on a fair process that resulted in Applegreen being selected as the MassDOT preferred partner.
They say they are advocating for transparency – but it’s spin and PR stunts by Global designed to change the outcome in its favor.”
Applegreen followed up with a cease and desist letter first reported in by the trade publication CSP late last week, featuring similar language as seen on the new website.
tellthetruthglobal.com and the cease and desist letter represent an escalation between the corporate giants both which rank in the top 50 for convenience-store chains by US store count according to CSP.
Much of the website is based upon a post-bid debrief that included Applegreen, Global and MassDOT.
The website ends with: “Don’t believe us, read MassDOT’s own analysis and side by side comparison of the two bids. To view, click here.”
