India’s Essar Group buys UK fuel forecourt chain SGN Retail

UK fuel station firm SGN Retail has agreed a takeover by India’s Essar Group in a move creating a 235-strong forecourt chain.

Essar’s fuel station arm – EET Retail – said the deal will double its existing network of 118 sites and propel it towards its long-term goal of supplying 800 forecourts by 2031, which is around 9% of the UK market.

It aims to supply the sites from its own refinery at Stanlow in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

Arvan Ruia, chief executive of EET Retail, said: “SGN Retail is one of the highest-quality forecourt networks in the UK, well ahead of the market.

“This acquisition accelerates our plan to build a nationwide, vertically integrated platform of 800 sites, backed by direct refinery supply and delivering competitive prices at the pump for UK motorists.”

Essar did not reveal how much it was paying for SGN Retail, but it is thought the business could be worth around £400 million.

SGN Retail, is one of the UK’s biggest independent petrol station chains in Britain, with 118 sites.

It was founded by Graham Peacock and Susan Tobbell in 2016.

Essar said it wants to shake up the UK fuel retail market, which it argues has become fragmented between fuel retail and fuel production, as oil majors have cut back their domestic refinery investments, “leading to a complex and inefficient supply chain, often dependent on imports or complex domestic supply chain”.

“EET Retail aims to challenge this dynamic in order to support an efficient and robust supply to UK customers,” it said.

It added: “Rerouting fuel refined at Stanlow directly into EET Retail forecourts boosts domestic supply security, by allowing UK refined fuel to be more efficiently distributed to domestic UK consumers.

“Furthermore, the integration of fuel production and sale will allow EET Retail to eliminate cost inefficiencies for motorists at the pump.”

Its aims to further tap into the UK forecourt sector as it said “the combination of demographic growth, the rise of multi-car households and the declining number of forecourts in the UK create an attractive outlook to invest”.