UK's Motor Fuel Group In Deal Talks With Morrisons

By Donna Ahern
UK's Motor Fuel Group In Deal Talks With Morrisons

UK's Motor Fuel Group (MFG) is in talks with supermarket chain Morrisons for 340 fuel retail forecourts in a deal that could be worth about £2 billion (€2.33 billion), the petrol stations giant said.

The company, in a statement to Reuters on Friday, said a deal would also include 500 freehold plots of land at the supermarket chain's locations "where ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) and valeting hubs will be deployed."

Motor Fuel Group is UK's largest independent forecourt operator and provides services through over 900 sites while Morrisons is Britain's fifth largest supermarket group.

Morrisons declined to comment on the deal.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice

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Both Morrisons and MFG are controlled by the US private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R).

"MFG is already committed to invest £400 million over 10 years into building ultra-rapid EV hubs across their existing 900-strong MFG forecourt network," MFG's statement said.

Sky News, which first reported the news, said an agreement between the two companies, both controlled by private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), may likely be done during the autumn.

Price Cuts 

In June Morrsions announced that it was cutting the prices of 47 products by an average of over 25%, in another sign that a surge in inflation might be set to abate.

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's key economic pledge to halve inflation in 2023 has been undermined by persistently high food inflation, which was running at over 19% in April, according to the most recent official data, and 17.2% in May, according to industry data.

Read More: British Supermarket Morrisons Cuts Prices Of Nearly 50 Products

News by Reuters, edited by Donna Ahern, Checkout. For more Retail stories, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.

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