Total sells its UK forecourts
GERALD RONSON’S service station business is among a consortium that has snapped up 810 UK outlets from French oil giant Total in a deal worth hundreds of millions of pounds, the firms announced yesterday.
Ronson’s Snax 24 business, which he set up 45 years ago, has teamed up with Investec and new investment firm Grovepoint Capital to take over the petrol stations along with a logistics arm and the Butler heating oil brand.
The Rontec consortium is believed to have fended off rival bids from Blackstone, Bain Capital and TPG.
The group has agreed in turn to sell 254 of the sites in the Midlands and South East to Shell for £240m, but will run the stations under a management agreement.
As a result of the deal, Snax 24 will be left operating 556 petrol stations across the UK, of which 238 will be owned by the Rontec group.
Total said the deal was part of its attempts to streamline its downstream business, in line with several big oil firms refocusing on more lucrative exploration and production.
The deal, expected to close later this year, will leave Total with a handful of marketing operations in the UK. The firm said it was also continuing talks to sell its UK refining business.
Ronson said the transaction “marks Snax 24’s return to the fuel business in scale”.