It’s official, Viva Energy Australia are now the complete owners of Liberty Oil’s wholesale business.
The acquisition of the remaining 50% was approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in October.
Viva have said the sale will allow them to extend further support to regional communities and see the company, an an entity of Viva Energy Group, supply fuel to close to 350 independent retail service stations, manage 20 inland fuel depots and a fleet of 80 tankers.
Viva Energy CEO Scott Wyatt said the acquisition supports their strategy to grow the business in regional and small business markets.
“Liberty Wholesale supplies fuel and lubricants to a network of distributor partners across Australia, as well as more than 250 independent retail service stations operating under both the Shell and Liberty brands,” he said.
“Liberty Wholesale has enjoyed considerable success over the last few years, and we can see many more opportunities to continue to grow this business through targeted investment and working with their partners.”
Speaking on the proposed deal in October, ACCC commissioner Stephen Ridgeway said the impact on Adelaide and metropolitan Melbourne, as well as some local areas, was not expected to be significant, given low share of branded and retail sites in the respective cities.
Adding where there was an overlap of Liberty and Viva retail sites in local areas, there was “sufficient competition, we identified potential competition concerns regarding some local areas. The merger parties provided further information or implemented changes, which addressed our concerns,” he said.
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