Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Abu Dhabi state oil giant weighs £5bn bid for Motor Fuel Group

Abu Dhabi state oil giant weighs £5bn bid for Motor Fuel Group

The Gulf state's national oil company is lining up bankers from JP Morgan to advise on a possible offer for Britain's biggest independent petrol station operator, Sky News learns.
One of the world's biggest oil producers is contemplating a multibillion pound takeover bid for Motor Fuel Group (MFG), Britain’s biggest independent petrol station operator.

Sky News has learnt that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is lining up bankers to work on a potential offer for MFG, which has been put up for sale with a price tag of about £5bn.

City sources said on Friday that ADNOC, which is among the 20 biggest oil companies in the world, had yet to make a firm decision about whether to bid ahead of an initial deadline next week.

However, it is preparing to hire JP Morgan, the Wall Street investment bank, to advise it on its interest in the UK company, they said.

ADNOC would be a significant player in a bidding war for a company that has rapidly grown is estate and profitability, and is now seeking to harness the automotive industry's efforts to embrace the transition to cleaner energy.

MFG has committed to spending £50m this year on installing hundreds of electric vehicle charging points across its roughly-900 sites, and believes it can play a leading role in that shift during the coming years.

A bid from ADNOC would represent one of the biggest single investments by a company from the Gulf state in a British business, and follows the signing of a £10bn sovereign investment partnership between the UK and UAE last year.

Technology, energy transition, infrastructure and life sciences were identified as the principal focuses for the partnership between the Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala and the UK's Office for Investment.

ADNOC produces roughly 3m barrels of oil each day, as well as 10.5bn cubic feet of gas, placing it among the world's largest producers of the two energy sources.

If it does bid for MFG, it will probably be pitted against Fortress Investment Group and Macquarie, the Australian financial services behemoth which recently bought Roadchef, the motorway services operator, for about £1bn.

People close to the process cautioned, however, that a sale was not certain to go ahead, given difficult financing markets.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) will only proceed with a sale if it can secure an attractive valuation, they added.

MFG has grown through a series of acquisitions to become the largest independent player in the sector, behind BP and Shell.

A merger of its assets with Morrisons' petrol stations was mooted by City analysts at the time of the supermarket chain's takeover by CD&R, but the prospect of that transaction receded after a £750m deal for EG Group to buy Asda's forecourts was abandoned in October.

Asda and EG Group are both controlled by TDR Capital and the lagger's founders, Mohsin and Zuber Issa.

CD&R has owned MFG since 2015, and has now picked a quartet of banks to oversee the company's sale.

Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Royal Bank of Canada will work jointly on the process, with a stock market listing considered to be far less likely.

The company has grown substantially since CD&R bought it in 2015 from Patron Capital Partners in a deal worth about £500m.

Three years later, it paid £1.2bn to add MRH, the market leader, creating a group operating under fuel brands such as BP, Esso, Shell and Texaco.

Profits are understood to have risen about tenfold since CD&R's original acquisition of MFG.

Like rivals, it has invested heavily in its convenience retailing proposition, featuring the likes of Costa Coffee, Greggs and Subway at many of its sites.

EG is undertaking a review of its strategic options and has been linked with a merger with Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard, while Rontec, the group controlled by the entrepreneur Gerald Ronson, has also been periodically linked with a sale.

MFG is run by William Bannister, who acquired the business in 2011 through a management buy-in, while it is chaired by Alasdair Locke, a serial entrepreneur in the energy industry.

Both men would be in line for substantial windfalls from a £5bn sale.

ADNOC could not be reached for comment on Friday, while JP Morgan and CD&R both declined to comment.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×