INDIAN firm Essar Group is to buy British petrol station operator SGN Retail — in a deal reportedly worth £400million that will double its number of forecourts.
It will create a nationwide chain of 235 — with the company’s retail arm, EET Retail, already running 118 sites.
Indian firm Essar Group is to buy British petrol station operator SGN Retail Credit: Getty
The deal is reportedly worth £400million and will double its number of forecourts Credit: coldsnowstorm
The takeover moves it closer to the goal of supplying 800 forecourts by 2031 — around 9 per cent of the UK market.
The enlarged group will include stations carrying brands such as BP, Co-Op, Esso, Jet, Shell, Texaco and Valero.
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Essar plans to supply the network from its Stanlow refinery at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.
It says that linking production and retail will cut waste and complexity from the supply chain, strengthen Britain’s fuel security and help keep pump prices competitive.
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Chief executive Arvan Ruia called SGN “one of the highest-quality forecourt networks in the UK”.
He said the purchase would speed up Essar’s push to build a fully integrated national business.
SGN was founded by Graham Peacock and Susan Tobbell in 2016 and has since grown into one of the country’s biggest independent filling-station operators.
Essar has not yet disclosed the price, although reports value the SGN deal at around £400million.
The company believes the sector is ripe for expansion.
It points to population growth, more multi-car households and a long-term historic decline in the number of UK forecourts.
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