Patron buys 90 petrol stations

The real estate private equity firm’s Motor Fuels Group will acquire the sites from Shell taking its number of petrol filling stations to 373.

A UK forecourt business owned by Patron Capital Partners, the London-based real estate private equity firm, is contracted to acquire 90 petrol filling stations from oil giant Shell for an undisclosed price.

The 90 sites, 53 percent of which are located in the South East of England including, 21 sites in London, takes Patron’s Motor Fuel Group (MFG) to 373 petrol stations in total making it one of the largest UK fuel station operators in the UK.

“It's a theme over the past couple of years that the oil majors in this sector are looking to divest at least some of their remaining stations which we are trying to capitalize on,” Stephen Green, senior partner at Patron Capital, told PERE. “We are seeing a good pipeline of deals and there is still much more to go.”

Patron originally acquired MFG back in December 2011 in a joint venture with oil industry veteran Alasdair Locke and members of a new management team. Patron made the investment on behalf of Patron Capital IV, a vehicle which attracted €780 million of commitments from limited partners as well as €320 million of co-investment capital.

Patron is led by managing director Keith Breslauer and chief operating officer, Shane Law. It employs an investment team of around 39 people.