Source: Radio New Zealand
The 240 Gull and NPD sites throughout the country would maintain their original distinctive brand if the merger goes ahead. Supplied/ NPD
Fuel companies NPD and Gull have announced plans to merge national operations.
While still subject to Commerce Commission approval, the move would combine NPD and Gull sites, teams and supply chains to form the largest independent, majority Kiwi-owned fuel company.
Each of their combined 240 sites would maintain it’s distinctive brand – Gull sites are most common in the North Island, and NPD in the South, the companies said in a statement released on Christmas Day.
The South Island-based Sheridan family would own fifty percent, with Barry Sheridan, the current NPD owner and chief executive, to become the head of the new company.
Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.
The Gull station in New Lynn, West Auckland Google Maps
The companies said the move should drive down pump prices, with Sheridan saying both companies were focused on making it easy for customers to pay less.
“NPD started doing so more than 55 years ago and Gull started shaking up the market 25 years ago,” he said. “Together, we’ll do even more, so motorists pay less.”
The companies had a combined staff of 130, and a combined buying power of one billion litres of fuel a year.
Gull chief executive Dan Gilbert said: “Joining forces means we’ll be everywhere, accelerating what we can do for more customers in more places.”
Duplicating systems and sharing services would help the new company continue to deliver market leading competitive pricing to motorists, the statement said.
The parties said they had already engaged with the Commerce Commission, and an application for clearance would be registered in January.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
