DCC completes buyout of Esso’s French arm

Energy-to-technologies conglomerate DCC said it completed its acquisition of Esso SAF's unmanned and motorway retail petrol station network in France.

The network includes the Esso Express network and Esso Motorway concessions.

The announcement comes after the international sales, marketing, distribution and business support services group received relevant clearances and put an IT and operational infrastructure in place.

DCC paid €106 million, plus stock, for the acquisition, according to its stock exchange announcement last year. The group said it completed the acquisition on schedule.

This is the group's second major acquisition in the European unmanned retail petrol station market following the acquisition of Qstar in Sweden in May 2014 and is part of DCC's strategy to build its presence in the transport fuels sector.

DCC Energy now operates 672 retail service stations across Europe and supplies over 2,000 dealer-owned service stations.