Gerry Barrett, the Galway property developer and former teacher, has emerged as a backer of Topaz, the private consortium that is buying Statoil's Irish fuels business.
Topaz confirmed yesterday that it had beaten off competition from a number of quarters to take over the retail and commercial business. No price was disclosed, but it is thought to have approached €285 million.
The consortium, which bought Shell's retail and commercial interests in Ireland last year, is led by corporate finance house Ion Equity.
Anglo Irish Bank provided financial backing, along with Monogram Hotels owner Mr Barrett, Denis O'Brien and a number of Ion Equity and Topaz executives, including former Emo Oil managing director and Topaz chief executive Danny Murray.
A number of other shareholders remain anonymous.
The deal will require Competition Authority approval because Topaz owns Shell Oil's Irish retail and commercial interests. The consortium plans to merge the Shell business, acquired for about €200 million last year, with the Statoil operations.
Mr Murray said yesterday that the consortium had considered the competition issues right from the start of the process. "We have to be confident to have done the deal," he said.
If Topaz is instructed to sell off some of the Shell or Statoil interests to comply with competition law, it is likely that they would attract the interest of underbidders in the latest deal. The closest underbidder is said to have been Petrogas, the owner of the Applegreen brand. Other parties that dropped out earlier were Tesco, DCC, Irving Oil and Sweeney Oil.
The business being bought includes 69 retail service stations, some of which are likely to be earmarked for development.
Mr Murray said, however, the number sold would "not be anything like" the number of Shell stations singled out for disposal. Topaz has so far sold off five out of 55 Shell service stations, raising about €45 million. Two other stations are close to sale.
The Statoil business also takes in oil importation facilities in Dublin, Cork and Galway and 12 regional depots. When added to the Shell business bought last year, the acquisition will see Topaz supplying fuel to about 400 service stations. Topaz will also acquire the worldwide rights to the Fareplay forecourt retailing brand.
Last year, Statoil Ireland had operating profits of €700,000 and had net assets of €110.9 million.
Under the terms of the sale, Topaz will also make a contribution of several million euro towards filling a deficit in the Statoil pension fund.
Mr Murray said much of Topaz's focus over the next few years would lie on opening motorway service stations.
The consortium was advised by Ion Equity in the deal, with legal guidance provided by McCann FitzGerald.
The premium achieved is likely to bring focus on other chains of petrol stations, notably that owned by Texaco.
David McAndrew, company chairman of Texaco Ireland, said yesterday that the company was seeking to "actively grow" and would be making "continued investment" in the Republic.
