Motor Fuel Group

Motor Fuel Group (trading as Motor Fuel Group and MFG) is a British forecourt operator that has grown through a series of management-led acquisitions and strategic investments to become one of the United Kingdom’s largest independent petrol station operators.

As of March 2024, the group is the UK's largest independent forecourt provider. The company is currently based in St Albans and is owned by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, who also own the Morrisons supermarket chain.

Motor Fuel Group (MFG) is a British forecourt operator that has grown through a series of management-led acquisitions and strategic investments to become one of the United Kingdom’s largest independent petrol station operators.

The modern incarnation of the company traces its origins to late 2011, when a new management team led by Chief Executive Officer William Bannister acquired the business on 22 December 2011. The team included Jeremy Clarke (Chief Operating Officer), Simon Lane (Chief Financial Officer) and Adam Wadlow (Chief Investment Officer), each bringing significant experience from the forecourt and convenience retail sectors. The group at this time operated a network of approximately 48 sites under major fuel brands including BP, Shell, Esso, Mobil Texaco and Jet, with a strategy focused on expansion and retail diversification.

MFG’s growth accelerated through acquisitions throughout the 2010s. In October 2014, the company completed the purchase of the retail assets of Murco Petroleum, adding hundreds of sites and substantially increasing its market presence. In 2015, the business secured new investment from American private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in a transaction valued at around £500 million, further bolstering its capacity for expansion. That year also saw the acquisition of 90 Shell-branded stations.

Between 2016 and 2017, MFG continued to add forecourts through several smaller acquisitions, including Synergie Holdings, Roadside Group, FW Kerridge, Burns & Co., Manor Service Stations and sites from the Golden Cross Group.

A major milestone came in 2018 when MFG announced the £1.2 billion acquisition of MRH, one of the UK’s largest independent forecourt operators, bringing nearly 500 additional sites into its network and making it one of the country’s biggest operators by site count. The deal also included fuel wholesale and retail operations in the Channel Islands under brands such as Roberts, PDJ and GPD.

The expansion continued with additional purchases in subsequent years, including 10 operating stations and three new-to-industry sites from Symonds Retail Limited in 2019, and six forecourts in the Lake District acquired in December 2020. In early 2021, MFG added several operational and new-to-industry sites from BP, and announced a planned £400 million investment to deploy ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across hundreds of its sites as part of a long-term diversification strategy.