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A ‘game changer’ for Irish retail

Emmet O'Neill, chief executive, Topaz (l)  with Brian Hannasch, president and chief executive officer of Alimentation, Couche-Tard Johnny Bambury-Fennell Photography
Emmet O’Neill, chief executive, Topaz (l)  with Brian Hannasch, president and chief executive officer of Alimentation, Couche-Tard
Johnny Bambury-Fennell Photography
Subject to the usual regulatory approvals and closing conditions Ireland’s largest convenience and fuel retailer, Topaz Energy Group, is to be acquired by the publicly quoted Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard.
The company will join a publicly quoted business with a worldwide network of 15,000 convenience stores and service stations.  Topaz CEO describes last week’s deal, which is expected to close in spring 2016, as a game-changer for the retail sector.
The Topaz network includes 464 service stations, 162 of which are company-owned and a commercial fuels operation with over 30 depots.  The business employs over 2,000 people across the island of Ireland.
“The last two years have been a period of phenomenal development and improvement for Topaz,” said chairman John Callaghan
“We’ve established a well-capitalised group of growing businesses which, with the recent amalgamation of Esso in Ireland, is the undoubted industry leader.  We know Couche-Tard will build on the foundations we’ve put in place and bring a new dimension to the industry in Ireland to the benefit of the economy, our customers and our staff.”
Emmet O’Neill, Topaz chief executive said: “Couche-Tard is one of the strongest names in retail in the world and their presence in Ireland will transform the retail sector here.

2 min read

From ‘challenged’ to ‘transformed’

“In the last two years Topaz has moved from being a challenged business to one which has been transformed at every level. We’ve refinanced the company, upgraded the infrastructure, acquired and built new sites and convenience stores.”
Couche-Tard has approximately 15,000 sites across its network in the USA and Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the Baltics and Russia in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Approximately 100,000 people are employed in its network across the world.
www.topaz.ie
corpo.couche-tard.com