Canada's Irving Oil has announced it is to acquire the Tedcastle Group, an Irish-based energy firm that operates under the band name Top Oil, and boasts around 200 dealer- and company-owned forecourt sites around Ireland.
With the move, Irving Oil follows in the footsteps of fellow Canadian firm Alimentation Couche-Tard, which acquired the Topaz fuel brand, Ireland's largest forecourt operator, in late 2015.
Expanded Presence
Irving Oil previously announced the purchase of Ireland's sole oil refinery, in the town of Whitegate, County Cork, in 2016, and the company said that its latest acquisition will enable the group to expand its operations 'across the Atlantic basin'.
“This is a great day for our company,” commented Arthur Irving, chairman of Irving Oil. “We are proud to be doing business in Ireland and are looking forward to working with everyone at Top Oil. We’re excited about the future.”
The company said that once competition approval has been granted, Irving Oil will continue to operate the Top Oil business 'as usual', with the branding and workforce remaining as it is.
“This is a very significant day for the extended family and our business in Ireland,” said Raymond Reihill, deputy chairman, Tedcastle Holdings. “We are delighted to hand over the reins, on completion of these agreements, to another family company and are confident that the business will continue to grow and prosper.”
Couche-Tard's Investment
Since Couche-Tard announced its acquisition of Topaz for €258 million plus debt, it has invested heavily in the brand, reformatting its portfolio of stores to the global Circle K branding, as well as moving a number of global functions to its Ireland base.
In September of last year, for example, The Irish Times revealed that the company had invested around €310 million in transferring global roles to Ireland, a move that would necessitate an expansion of its head office.
“The recent investments are the capitalisation and transfer of intangible assets into the new entities [...] following the previous announcement to relocate these functions in Ireland,” Couche-Tard said at the time.
Having already established a presence in Ireland with its Whitegate acquisition, the company's latest move indicates that Irving Oil may be planning a similar expansion of its Irish workforce.
Watch The Competition
Not that the Irving Oil investment is likely to worry senior executives at Applegreen, however.
Ireland's largest domestically-owned forecourt group recently announced its biggest international deal with the acquisition of a majority holding in Welcome Break, a UK motorway service group, for €361.8 million.
The acquisition grants control of 24 motorway service stations, two trunk road services and 29 hotels to Applegreen, a business that continues to go from strength to strength following its recent IPO.
In a statement to coincide with its AGM in June, the company said that its 'trading results [have continued] to improve on the prior year', in spite of the 'severe weather in March' which affected the group's entire portfolio, particularly its Irish operation.
In addition, the business recently signed a deal to lease a network of filling stations in Florida, which it expects to close later this year.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
