Ronson merges petrol forecourt retailers and signs £1bn BP deal
GERALD Ronson has merged his two petrol retailing businesses Snax 24 and Rontec to create one of the UK’s largest roadside retail businesses with £1.5bn of sales.
The merger sees Snax 24’s 44 sites added to Rontec’s 166 forecourts to create a business with 210 petrol service stations, including two motorway sites.
The enlarged Rontec group also announced yesterday that it has struck a five-year £1bn supply deal with oil company BP.
Ronson, also known for owning one of the City’s tallest buildings The Heron Tower – or 110 Bishopsgate – opened his first forecourt 49 years ago in St Albans.
He founded Rontec in 2010 with investment bank Investec and private equity firm Grovepoint in order to buy Total’s service station business for £350m. Ronson bought out Investec and Grovepoint last year.
Rontec has made over £100m of acquisitions over the last 12 months as oil companies continue dispose of many of their forecourts to focus on their upstream operations.
In a statement yesterday Ronson said the deal “strengthens what is already a formidable company run by one of the most professional and experienced teams in the sector, and enables us to sign major deals with suppliers such as BP”.