Private equity firm readies a bid for oil refinery Stanlow
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A secretive private equity firm is readying a bid for British oil refinery Stanlow as they look to snap up the business from Essar Energy, owned by the billionaire Ruia brothers.
Stanlow, one of the UK’s biggest refineries and the supplier of fuel to planes at Manchester and Birmingham airport, has become subject to interest from Barton’s Family Capital, The Sunday Times first reported.
Barton’s is headed up by investment banker Hugo Brassey and chaired by David Wheeler, an American based in London who is a senior adviser to Credit Suisse, and the pair have reportedly begun sounding out the UK government to explore how they would respond to a bid for the firm.
In an interview in 2020, Brassey and Bartons said their firm was focused on stressed and distressed businesses in the food and fuel industries.
Stanlow, which employs 900 people and a further 800 contractors who turn crude oil into diesel, petrol and jet fuel, weathered a difficult pandemic and was forced to delay the payment of a $356m tax bill due to cash difficulties, with Essar exploring emergency last-mile financing to shore up its finances.
The firm eventually had to strike an agreement with HM Revenue & Customs to put together a phased payment plan that would allow it to pay without crippling the company.
The brothers also came under fire for pumping hundreds of millions of pounds out of the business before the pandemic, adding to the firm’s financial woes.
The potential sale of the business will add to concerns over the security of the UK’s fuel supply. Workers at Stanlow sparked fear over fuel supply in October last year when they threatened strike action over pay and the closure of the firm’s final salary pension scheme.