BRITISH FUEL group Malthurst is believed to be in talks with oil giant Chevron to purchase more than 20 of its company-owned Texaco filling stations in Ireland.
It is understood that talks have been ongoing for some months.
Malthurst formed two companies here in December in preparation for its entry into the Irish market: MRH (Ireland) Petroleum Ltd and MRH (Ireland) Properties Ltd.
These are registered to an address at Harcourt Street, Dublin. BDO Simpson Xavier has acted as company secretary to the new businesses.
Founded in 1997, Malthurst is the largest independent owner and operator of petrol stations in Britain, accounting for about 4 per cent of the market.
It is headquartered in Essex and has 300 filling stations in England and Scotland using a number of brands, including Texaco and BP. It also runs a wholesale fuel business distributing to commercial and domestic customers.
MRH (GB) Ltd recorded turnover of £1.35 billion and a pretax profit of £20 million in 2008, according to accounts filed at the companies office in Britain. Barclays Private Equity owns a 38 per cent stake in the business.
When contacted about the talks, a spokeswoman for Chevron said: “No decision has been made about our Dublin assets at this time. Nothing has been finalised.”
Chevron owns the Texaco brand and runs a large network of filling stations in Ireland. It is understood that the group is keen to sell its company-owned sites.
Chevron also owns Texoil in Ireland. This company distributes home heating oil and other fuel products around the country.
Chevron (Ireland) Ltd made a loss of €15.9 million on turnover of €1.4 billion in 2008.
The oil giants have gradually withdrawn from Ireland and other European markets in recent years to focus more on their upstream exploration and refining activities.
Shell and Statoil sold their service stations to Topaz within the past five years while Esso has retrenched its operation to the Leinster area.
It is not clear how much Malthurst would pay for the Texaco stations but it would be expected to spend several million upgrading the forecourts and possibly rebranding them.
At the height of the boom, filling stations in urban areas carried hefty price tags. But valuations have plunged and many sites bought for redevelopment have recently had their forecourt operations restored.
Topaz is the biggest fuel group here with a share of 30 per cent. It expects to make an operating profit of €20 million this year on turnover of €3 billion-plus.
