TravelCenters (TA) Risk Analysis

The indenture under which the Senior Notes were issued contains no financial covenants or other provisions that would afford the holders of the Senior Notes any substantial protection in the event we participate in a material transaction. In addition, the indenture does not limit the amount of indebtedness we may incur or our ability to pay dividends, make distributions or repurchase our shares of common stock. Additionally, investors in our Senior Notes may be adversely affected as a result of the following: - the Senior Notes are unsecured and effectively subordinated to all of our existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness;- an active trading market for the Senior Notes may not be maintained or be liquid;- we depend upon our subsidiaries for cash flow to service our debt, and the Senior Notes are structurally subordinated to the payment of the indebtedness, lease and other liabilities and any preferred equity of our subsidiaries; and - an increase in market interest rates and other factors could result in a decrease in the value of the Senior Notes.

Our Credit Facility and Term Loan Facility agreements require us and our subsidiaries, among other obligations, to maintain specified financial ratios under certain circumstances and to satisfy certain financial tests. In addition, our Credit Facility and Term Loan Facility agreements restrict, under certain circumstances, among other things, our ability to incur debt and liens, make certain investments and pay dividends and other distributions including, under certain circumstances, payments on our 2028 Senior Notes, our 2029 Senior Notes and our 2030 Senior Notes, which we refer to collectively as our Senior Notes. Under certain circumstances, we are required to seek permission from the lenders under our Credit Facility and Term Loan Facility agreements to engage in specified corporate actions. Various risks, uncertainties and events beyond our control could affect our ability to comply with these covenants. Failure to comply with these covenants, or similar covenants contained in future financing agreements, could result in a default under our Credit Facility and Term Loan Facility agreements, indenture and other agreements containing cross default provisions, which, if not cured or waived, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. A default could permit lenders or holders to accelerate the maturity of the debt under these agreements and to foreclose upon any collateral securing the debt and to terminate any commitments to lend. Under these circumstances, we might not have sufficient funds or other resources to satisfy all of our obligations, including our obligations under the Senior Notes. In addition, a default under our Credit Facility and Term Loan Facility agreements or indenture would also constitute a default under the SVC Leases due to cross default provisions in the SVC Leases. Further, the limitations imposed by financing agreements on our ability to incur additional debt and to take other actions might significantly impair our ability to obtain other financing. If our indebtedness were to be accelerated, our assets may not be sufficient to repay such indebtedness in full. In such circumstances, we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation and, as a result, investors could lose their investment in our securities.

In an effort to combat rising inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rates multiple times since the beginning of 2022 and may continue to increase rates in 2023. Increases in the federal funds rate cause interest rates and borrowing costs to rise. Material increases in interest rates or market reactions to these increases, or anticipated increases, may have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, LIBOR was recently phased out for new contracts and will be replaced for pre-existing contracts by June 30, 2023. The interest rate on our Credit Facility and our $200,000 Term Loan Facility, or Term Loan Facility is based on LIBOR. We currently expect that the determination of interest under certain of our credit agreements would be based on the alternative rates provided under those credit agreements or would be revised to provide for an interest rate that approximates the existing interest rate as calculated in accordance with LIBOR. Despite our current expectations, we cannot be certain that, when LIBOR is transitioned, the changes to the determination of interest under our credit agreements would approximate the current calculation in accordance with LIBOR. An alternative interest rate index that may replace LIBOR may result in our paying increased interest.

Our fuel purchases are our largest operating cost. Historically, we have paid for our fuel purchases after delivery. In the past, as our fuel costs increased with the increase in commodity market prices, some of our fuel suppliers were unwilling to adjust the amounts of our available trade credit to accommodate the increased costs of the fuel volume that we purchased. Also, our historical financial results and general U.S. economic conditions may cause some fuel suppliers to request letters of credit or other forms of security for our purchases. We cannot predict how high or low fuel prices may be in the future, or to what extent our trade creditors will be willing to adjust the amounts of our available trade credit to accommodate increased fuel costs. Fuel commodity prices significantly impact our working capital requirements, and the unavailability of sufficient amounts of trade credit or alternative sources of financing to meet our working capital requirements could materially adversely affect our business.

Businesses and properties that we acquire often require substantial improvements to be brought up to our standards or to achieve our expected financial results. For example, improvements to our acquired travel centers are often extensive and require an extended period of time to plan, design, permit and complete, which is then followed by another period of time for the acquired travel center to become part of our customers' supply networks. Despite our efforts, the actual results of acquired properties may not improve under our management and may vary greatly from the results we expected when we made the acquisitions. These variances may occur due to many factors, including competition, the cost of improvements exceeding our estimates and our realization of less synergies and less cost savings than expected. Some of these factors are outside our control. If improvements are more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected or if reaching maturity takes longer than expected or does not occur at all, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected. The success of our growth strategies, and any particular acquisition, including the realization of anticipated benefits, synergies and cost savings, will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully combine acquired businesses with ours. Integration of acquired businesses may be more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected, may result in the loss of key employees or business disruption to us, or may adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, suppliers and employees or to fully achieve the anticipated benefits of the growth strategy or acquisition. If we experience difficulties, the anticipated benefits of a growth strategy or particular transaction may not be realized fully or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected.

Our success depends on our ability to grow our business and adapt our business model to changing market conditions. We are executing new and expanded business strategies. We launched a new smaller travel center format branded as TA Express, and, as of December 31, 2022, we have converted and opened 29 travel centers under this brand name, and we plan to expand our travel center business, including the TA Express brand, through franchising, development and acquisition opportunities. We also continue to grow our truck service business, particularly within our TA Truck Service Emergency Roadside Assistance, TA Truck Service Mobile Maintenance and TA Commercial Tire Dealer Network™ programs. In addition, as of December 31, 2022, we had entered into franchise agreements covering 68 travel centers under our travel center brand names. In addition, in 2021 we formed a new division, eTA, to develop and market alternative energy and sustainable resources. Also, during 2021, we announced our desire to acquire existing travel centers to expand our network of travel centers and have subsequently acquired seven travel centers. These new and expanded business strategies will take time to execute and require additional investment and may be delayed or cost more than initially expected due to market or other conditions, including the current labor shortages, inflation, increasing or sustained high interest rates, supply chain challenges and public health safety concerns, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which have had such effects; as a result, we were required to delay or modify certain of our initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic and may need to delay or modify initiatives in the future in response to current or then market or other conditions. While we believe the pursuit of these business strategies will have a positive effect on our business in the long term, we cannot be certain that they will.

We have significant commercial and other relationships with SVC, RMR and others related to them, including: - we lease a large majority of our travel centers from SVC and our business is substantially dependent upon our relationship with SVC;- SVC is our second largest stockholder, owning 1.2 million, or approximately 7.8%, of our outstanding shares of common stock as of December 31, 2022;- RMR provides us with business management services pursuant to a business management agreement and we pay RMR fees for those services based on a percentage of our fuel gross margin and nonfuel revenues. RMR also provides business and property management services to SVC;- the Chair of our Board of Directors and one of our Managing Directors, Adam D. Portnoy, is the chair of the board of trustees and a managing trustee of SVC, owned approximately 1.1% of SVC's outstanding common shares as of December 31, 2022, is a managing director and an officer of The RMR Group Inc., is an officer and employee of RMR and is the sole trustee, an officer and the controlling shareholder of ABP Trust, which is the controlling shareholder of The RMR Group Inc. The RMR Group Inc. is the managing member of RMR and RMR is the majority-owned operating subsidiary of The RMR Group Inc.;- as of December 31, 2022, RMR owned 0.6 million, or approximately 4.1%, of our outstanding shares of common stock;- our other Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan M. Pertchik, is an Executive Vice President and employee of RMR;- Peter J. Crage, our Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Mark R. Young, our Executive Vice President and General Counsel, are also officers and employees of RMR;- Adam D. Portnoy and most of our Independent Directors are members of the boards of trustees or boards of directors of other public companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services; and - in the event of conflicts between us and RMR, any affiliate of RMR or any publicly owned entity with which RMR has a relationship, including SVC, our business management agreement allows RMR to act on its own behalf and on behalf of SVC or such other entity rather than on our behalf. In an agreement with SVC entered in 2007 in connection with our spin off from SVC and in our SVC Leases, we granted SVC a right of first refusal to purchase, lease, mortgage or otherwise finance any interest we own in a travel center before we sell, lease, mortgage or otherwise finance that travel center with another party. Under the 2007 agreement, we also granted SVC and other entities to which RMR provides management services a right of first refusal to acquire or finance any real estate of the types in which they invest before we do. Additionally, under the SVC Leases, without the consent of SVC, we generally cannot own, franchise, finance, operate, lease or manage any travel center or similar property within 75 miles in either direction along the primary interstate on which a travel center owned by SVC is located. These rights of first refusal and noncompetition provisions could limit our ability to purchase or finance our properties or properties we may wish to invest in or acquire in the future. Also, under the 2007 agreement we agreed not to take any action that might reasonably be expected to have a material adverse impact on SVC's ability to qualify as a real estate investment trust, or REIT. For more information regarding our leases and relationship with SVC, see Notes 8 and 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report. These relationships could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, SVC, RMR and others related to them. As a result of these relationships, our leases with SVC, management agreement with RMR and other transactions with SVC, RMR and others related to them were not negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore the terms thereof may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they were negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties. In the past, in particular following periods of volatility in the overall market or declines in the market price of a company's securities, dissident stockholder director nominations, dissident stockholder proposals and stockholder litigation have often been instituted against companies alleging conflicts of interest in business dealings with affiliated and related persons and entities. These activities, if instituted against us, and the existence of conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest, could result in substantial costs and diversion of our management's attention and could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our shares of common stock and other securities.

We may incur a number of non-recurring costs associated with the completion of the Merger, which could be substantial. Nonrecurring transaction costs include, but are not limited to, fees paid to legal, financial and accounting advisors. If the Merger does not occur in a timely manner or at all, we will not benefit from these costs.

The Merger Agreement includes a covenant requiring us not to solicit any acquisition proposal, and subject to certain exceptions, not to enter into or participate or engage in any discussions or negotiations with, related to an acquisition proposal or enter into any letter of intent, acquisition agreement or other similar agreement relating to an acquisition proposal. Further, our board of directors will not withhold, withdraw, amend or modify, or publicly propose to do any of the foregoing, its recommendation in a manner adverse to BP, adopt, approve or recommend to our stockholders an acquisition proposal, fail to reaffirm its recommendation within ten business days following BP's written request, fail to recommend against acceptance of a tender or exchange offer for shares of our common stock within ten business days after the commencement thereof, nor fail to include its recommendation in the Proxy Statement. Notwithstanding these restrictions, at any time prior to obtaining the Company Stockholder Approval, if we have received a written, bona fide, unsolicited acquisition proposal from any third party (or a group of third parties) that our board of directors determines in good faith, after consultation with its financial advisor and outside legal counsel, constitutes or could reasonably be expected to lead to a superior proposal, and the failure to take the following actions would reasonably be expected to be inconsistent with its duties under applicable law, then we, directly or indirectly through certain specified representatives, may, subject to certain conditions, engage in discussions with such third party and furnish to such third party non-public information relating to us or any of our Subsidiaries pursuant to an acceptable confidentiality agreement. Further, at any time prior to obtaining the Company Stockholder Approval, in respect to a superior proposal we received after the date of the Merger Agreement on an unsolicited basis, if our board of directors determines in good faith, after consultation with its financial advisors and outside legal counsel, that the failure to take such action would be reasonably expected to be inconsistent with its duties under applicable law, our board of directors may, subject to compliance with certain conditions, (i) make an Adverse Recommendation Change (as defined in the Merger Agreement) or (ii) cause us to terminate the Merger Agreement in compliance with the terms of the Merger Agreement in order to enter into a binding written definitive agreement providing for such superior proposal. The Merger Agreement contains certain termination rights for each of us and BP. Upon termination of the Merger Agreement in accordance with its terms, under certain specified circumstances, we will be required to pay BP a termination fee in an amount equal to $51.9 million, including if the Merger Agreement is terminated due to the Company accepting an unsolicited superior proposal or due to the Board changing its recommendation to the Company's stockholders to vote to approve the Merger Agreement.

Completion of the Merger is subject to several conditions, not all of which are controllable by us and include, among other things, (i) receipt by us of the Company Stockholder Approval, (ii) that there is no temporary restraining order, preliminary or permanent injunction or other judgment issued by any court of competent jurisdiction in effect enjoining or otherwise prohibiting the consummation of the Merger, (iii) the expiration or termination of any applicable waiting period (or extension thereof) under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, and all other approvals under antitrust laws, (iv) the accuracy of the representations and warranties contained in the Merger Agreement (subject to specified materiality qualifiers), (v) compliance with the covenants and obligations under the Merger Agreement in all material respects, (vi) the absence of a material adverse effect with respect to the Company and (vii) the execution, release and delivery of the Consent and Amendment Agreement and all agreements entered into pursuant thereto. Accordingly, if any of the conditions to completing the Merger are not satisfied or waived in a timely manner, the Merger could be consummated later than we believe it will occur or, if the conditions are not satisfied or waived at all, the Merger may not occur, which could adversely affect the price of our common stock and the results of our operations.