Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Updated 9.40pm
TOPAZ, THE SERVICE Station chain owned by Denis O’Brien, has had its takeover bid for Esso approved by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
The exact figure behind the deal is not yet known, although it had previously been mooted to be in the region of €70 million.
The takeover has been expected since December of last year when Topaz confirmed they were poised to complete the transaction. Its completion will see Topaz owning roughly 30 % of the motor fuels market here.
At present, the Exxon Mobil-owned Esso business owns 38 service stations across the country.
As part of the deal the CCPC has directed that Topaz must dispose of three of those service stations.
According to Topaz, the deal will see the brand employ 2,000 people across Ireland with service stations under their banner to be seen in all 32 counties on the island.
Its turnover is expected to be roughly €3.5 billion.
“In just 10 years Topaz has successfully taken on and bought out the Irish retail businesses of three of the largest oil companies in the world (Shell, Statoil and now Esso) to create a truly significant and innovative Irish business and a major Irish employer,” Topaz CEO Emmet O’Neill said in a statement welcoming the deal.
This deal adds real substance to our operations here. It will bring our employee numbers in Ireland to 2,000 and we believe there is real scope to develop this business further.
The further development O’Neill is speaking of includes the deal announced last week which will see 40 Eddie Rockets burger restaurants open on Topaz forecourts by the end of 2016.
The chair of the CCPC, Isolde Goggin, said: “Our role in reviewing mergers and acquisitions is to ensure that they do not substantially lessen competition in any market for goods or services in the state.”
Goggin added that she was confident the CCPC had “safeguarded competition, both for consumers and for other businesses in this important sector”.
Additional reporting by Catherine Healy
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Is there no such thing as the competition authority when it comes to this man?
bp bought out by statoil, statoil merged with shell to form topaz, topaz bought out esso… yep, Someone in the competition authority is doing their job, especially when you see the large cluster of high population areas that are only covered by these two.
Denis O’Brien also owns eventserv
The company which supplies security barriers to Dublin city council for all the anti water charge marches
You can’t help but laugh at the irony of it !!
Topaz is also the single biggest contributor to revenue in Ireland you couldn’t dream this stuff up
Tan coloured envelopes always rule the day in jolly Ireland
I wonder were he got the loan from this time round.. ????
it is getting harder to find a non Denis O´OBrien fuel station in Dublin 7/15
We will have a cartel operating in all but name.
This country is a sick joke.
I will have have to watch my fuel gauge more carefully now to avoid contributing money to Citizen Kane O’Swine.
He’s gotta be on Statins-better still Warfarin-fat bas*ard.!
f sake, now have to find new petrol station to use.
Living in fkin DOB-land, Ireland gone, sold out to become a globalisation zone, all for the business class who are importing Nu-Irish as constant source of cheap labour. This country doing it’s damndest to look like some Los Angeles knock-off suburb, even peoples accents are beginning to sound American, ffs.
Esso, just another garage to pass.
and wait for it the new buzz word is modular homes and guess who has this sewn up yes a D.O’B. company.
just wait until he gets control of Irish Water.
be carful dobby might have you in court. after all he owns the government, Robs the country and thinks he is God
Absolutely.watch my gauge all the time to avoid contributing to the corrupt empire.hope more people do the same
The racist undertones in the message are disgusting. “TrueBloodEire”, surely another way of saying White Only Please. Also “Nu-Irish”, what is that exactly? Are the many doctors & nurses that save lives on a daily basis of some lesser worth because they were born somewhere else? Or is it good old fashioned skin colour? Or a hint of an accent? You’re one sad individual
Ha competition in Ireland
Look what happened to those foreigners BUPA
If you read the article you would see that the competition authority examined the sale and gave it the go-ahead as it would be ok once three stations were taken out of the portfolio. Like many commentators on here, you’ve an irrational hatred on Denis O’Brien. While his tax residency may not sit comfortably with many, no laws are being broken. As for his business dealings, you can hate the man all you want but he is shrewd and made something of himself. He has worked since he was about 14. He certainly won’t lose any sleep over your petty jealousy. I say good luck to him.
What happens to all our nurses and doctors, you are aware they are paying the “foreigner” staff less ya?? as they are on contract and we ship our Nurses to the UK.
I know of a story(fact) were a foreign muslim doctor refused to work with or treat women unless they were fully covered , he also refused instructions from our senior staff because they were women all because of his religious beliefs. How many lives were put at risk because of this certifiable nutcase? You think about that if you need an operation or emergency medical care sometime that someone that thinks all women and westerns are inferior is treating you.
Topsz suppling apple green
D`OB owns the state, didn`t you know it was gifted to him by FG who he also owns, do try to keep up
Apple green for me.
He is buying that next week.
Topaz and Applegreen are both alright in my book. I wouldn’t know about their petrol, but I regularly charge my car at both places (for free).
Yeah, I avoid Topaz like the plague. Any board with Biffo on it can’t be a good one and he’s on enough of a gravy train as is
Topaz is always 5c a litre more expensive than any other garage… Also their deli is a rip off. You’ll pay close to €6 for a rotten sandwich and a cup of coffee..
Its to cover there discount on the fuel card think AXA provides.
Applegreen at Jobstown Tallaght €1.30 a litre.
Topaz is €1.28 on fortfield road
Mad Taoseach he owns some of the Applegreen petrol stations too. Google it.
Von…I’ve tried seaching for links but can’t find any….I can find links that say Applegreen and Tedcastles Oil Products are legally challenging the former National Road Authority’s decision to award three new service station developments at Athlone on the M6, Kilcullen on the M9 and Gorey on the M11 to businessman Denis O’Brien’s Topaz Energy Group Limited….but can’t find anything about DoB owning any Applegreen stations…help?
Lowry is a shareholder in Apple Green
doesn’t Comrade OBrien own Siteserv?They are real well got with the HSE,they had a construction contract in Dublin recently where the crew came from Omagh and stayed in a Clarion for the duration of the gig.I couldn’t but think there were several construction company’s in Leinster who could have competed for this gig.
€2.50 for a sausage roll.. Dob can shove that where the sun don’t shine
135.9c in Cavan at topaz.
I suppose when you hold government fuel contracts for all their vehicles, you can charge what you want.
Al Ca i have searched most of google to find what i read a few months ago. I used Applegreen all the time and i downloaded their app and i couldn’t understand why every petrol station belonging to DOB was marked on applegreens map also, thats why i wanted to know and it did say he owned a few of them.
If I’m wrong ill eat my hat, I wille keep going till i find it.
Thanks von….if I get a chance..I’ll try a deeper search tomorrow..but as far as I’m aware from a radio show I heard during the summer with one of the owners of Applegreen…they have not floated on the stock market yet and the whole operation is still owned by the two lads that started it.
Thx anyway :)
10/11 cent more expensive for both diesel and petrol. hate them.
1.15 for diesel best I found in Tramore
there’s a Curran Fuels in Moyvalley,very good prices,always cheaper than applegreen,my engine hasn’t burnt out yet….
108.9 for diesel at apple green Clones.
122.9 in Cavan at Topaz 20 mins down the road.
Suppose I’m adding Esso to the list of garages I won’t be visiting!
Just support the independents. You are paying for those glass box shops in your fuel prices.
The only “Independents” that will be left at will be the laundered diesel outlets.!
It’s criminal
There never was a “regulator” or “authority” quango that ever did the ordinary citizen any service whatsoever. Rubber stamp merchants one and all.
Curses on crony politics.
B.ollox
he would want to start paying his fair share of taxes.
cue the begrudgers
Buy all the garages he wants. I’d be more concerned with his growing influence in media outlets.. And his links with fine Gael.
Don’t expect that comment to remain too long.
Supernove, don’t worry FG will be gone in the next election and hopefully Dobby will have crawled under the hole he came out of.
So on top of owning around 25% of Irish media and having a significant interest in Irish Water he will now own 30% of petrol stations? I don’t necessarily begrudge wealthy people their money but I do worry about someone like DOB, there’s no way you control that much in one country without getting to have a say in the running of that country. It’s meant to be one vote each!!!
What happened to those Cartel laws?
Il be using maxol so
I’ll sort you out with some cheap diesel, apparently if you don’t agree with fg shills you know how to get some laundered fuel.
Or just ask one of Sean Gallagher’s mates to sort you out.
……38 more service stations to avoid.
makes it really hard now to avoid DOB
very unfair
David. Blame Enda Kenny he has allowed Dobby buy whatever he wants and borrows any money he wants from our banks
Definitely bad news for consumers. I can’t understand how the Competitions Authority don’t see a problem with this
I have a background in the oil industry and this doesn’t bode well for Irish car owners.
Topaz don’t produce their own petrol, Exxon (Esso), Shell and the other multinationals do. So obviously the Esso forecourts in Ireland would buy their petrol from their head company, Exxon, for a fair price.
Topaz can’t do that, and the external multinationals can charge Topaz higher prices, because who else are they going to buy from?!
Bad news for the consumer and it may lead to Ireland having the highest petrol prices in Europe.
Good news for the planet.
Glad I kept my Polo going, if that pirate will be waiting wherever I run low on fuel.
We still have NI.
30 years ago we went north. We’ll do it again.
Is Topaz not Statoil and Statoil do produce their own petrol?
Sick of hearing about Denis O Brien! Bigger issues in the word!
I’m running out of places to fill up at this stage because I certainly won’t be lining his pockets with my cash.
I totally agree with you. I have boycotted Topaz for years. Personally I use my local independent retailer in the town to support local business, worth the extra cent a litre I think.
The Donald Trump of Ireland and just as much a threat to us , that he could consider trying to own and boss all of us Citizens too politically , like he already does with FG !
But over my dead body , he won’t succeed , hopefully ?
At what point does Topaz’ market share in Ireland a monopoly and a fair trade issue?
Peter if you want to know anything about DOB Google him, you will find every bit of Ireland he has bought and in the rest of the world and his name is down for IW when everyone pays. He is some piece of work but Karma will be with him soon,
Why is there only one monopolys commission
only two petrol stations on route in town where I live , one in the village was Texaco , other one on the edge of the village is topaz , but a few weeks ago Texaco became topaz . both garages are within 3 minutes of each other do now there’s no competition at all .
Paul Smith, question of the week. Excellent.
From the article I read yesterday here , where DOB is taking a court case accusing a conspiracy against him, I find it very ironic that there was an injuction on reporting on the case but he asked for it to be lifted.
Damn, I still had Tiger Points and all….
His links to Fine Gael and media are more disturbing,also the amount of ad revenue this coalition spend on his Newstalk station is highly questionable too.
Please people don’t listen to his radio stations i.e. Newstalk Today FM 104
And many more.
Great, that’s topaz and Esso that I won’t be buying from. I don’t read the Indo and I am not paying my water charge. Am I missing anything? I also don’t listen to his radio stations either.
The Tv licence will be the next boycotted…. You might as well join us on that one too…
I heard about this a while back, haven’t spent a bean in either topaz or Esso in over a year. Also Eddie Rockets are opening in the topaz garages so that’s another one to add to the boycott list along with Costa coffee.
@Mr Meade,
A man after my own heart.
When will the people see the light and run him out of the country.!
This also means he has control of the oil terminal at Dublin port.
Dave yes every plane you take is fuelled by him and it sickens me.
Which is why he didn’t want the Govt to flog their shares in Aer Lingus. He’d lose out on the petrol money.
Is there actually anything that he doesnt own!!!
The water-not yet.!
Our souls… I know some have sold them to [REDACTED] O’Bribe, but not all.
Great…..now I will just Boycott Esso as well as Topaz. Thanks for informing me of this Journal.
Another brand I will consciously avoid in future so.
Ireland will soon have to renamed Ireland DOB instead of Ireland INC
There’s another garage I won’t be buying fuel in. BOYCOTT
Denis o Brown is taking over the world..Well Ireland anyway..#shitbag
The Generals ran him out of Burma. Bully for them.
Ya know he’s dodgy when Burmese generals won’t do business with him.
What a greedy piece of skin. As long as he leaves one garage in Ireland that he doesn’t own i will be happy, i work hard for the money i get but i have passed his petrol stations even when the petrol was cheaper, and he wonders why people are against him, someone should tell him, wife , family etc.
More great consumer protection for our citizens! What a country…
A Government in his pocket.
I, for one, welcome our new overlord.
that man wants to own EVERYTHING
Bring back Sean Quinn
the diesel Is 2c dearer in my local topaz
No mention of this? http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/irishnews/article4586370.ece
In a few years you will see F G people an the boards of all these D O B company s
Good luck to him.. Problem for society here in Little Ireland is the little man or poor man is continually put down as the Elite move further ahead. This glaringly widening gap will cause huge problems sooner than one thinks. The political class as is have served only to accommodate this and maintain the status quo. We need change and if not we’ll need the Army I fear in the near future.
More petrol stations that won’t be getting my support!
The Moriarty Triibunal Report of December 2012 on Michael Lowry. Interesting reading.
More garages that have higher fuel prices with pumps that don’t work properly.
I see the pumps getting about 15cent before I get fuel!
So that’s 15vent for fresh air !!!!
Topaz
this deal was done before his companies started to lose money,which is being hidden to investors.that is why he is bringing journalists to court ,to stop them reporting his losses.this story is put out to make things look on the up,when in truth,things for him are on the way down. keep up the boycott.
Another load of service stations that I won’t be using so…….
careful there everyone, he’ll sue u all or get an injunction against u.
Right, fk this….. time to break out the Nipper’s
“Maxol Free A Nipper – Call to action ”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg-gb9p65Z0
DOB, the undeclared High King of Ireland.
And the dearest fuel in the country so much for the compition authority :-(
Didn’t think he has the money for this deal after his big stock market flotation went tits up. Reading the examiner this morning re his latest count battle make me wonder how he ever he made it in business with his sulky sensitive nature. The debt levels in his various businesses would make Greece blush.
Addiction to money is no different than any other addiction – other people and society pay the biggest price.
Someone needs to ring Joe Duffy about this..but only if the callers are selected and their questions are pre approved of course!!
That’s handy now every town will have three topaz stations!
More power to you Denis, literally.
May be the biggest forecourt operator but his greed holds no boundaries most expensive for diesel petroleum products but yet ppl still go there . Disgraceful greedy dob who I will never give a penny too
The organisation that no longer exists will still sell you petrol and diesel at an amazingly low price, if you are prepared to take your deliveries in the dark in a country laneway.
DOB can’t compete with true Republicans when it comes to profit margins.
that will make at least 4 stations along the n7 wait and see fuel prices rocket. at least there is an apple green and a texaco in Newcastle.
When rich people go bankrupt they do it big. O’Bribe knows that he’s not risking his money so he’ll continue to gamble. His financial deals are starting to creak but he knows he’ll get away with not paying the banks.
Nicest coffee on the road! Petrol that seems to last longer when I fill the car plus every plane all you people use are filled by DOB! Get a life there’s more important things to be worried about in the world! We all just wish we had a business mind like him!
yes des your right. petrol that is alot more expensive does last longer. but sure you will still think that way when all your local stations are topaz owned by DOB and managed by Biffo and you are paying way over the odds for it.
Ah now Andrew there is good reason for the moaning. Please see the following http://politicalreform.ie/2011/03/22/the-moriarty-tribunal-report/
Yes the petrol is a little more expensive. But knowing you’re annoying petty boycotters is worth that extra 2c a litre.
to be fair JJ I would agree with you if it was only 2c but where I live it’s actually 11c per litre of diesel
Honestly does last longer I’ve filled up plenty of times in other places and that additive definitely makes the fuel last longer! And no one can deny he gorgeous the coffee is there
Mmmm. I’d love a Topaz latte right now.
Sounds bad as that sounds more like DOB Top Azz?
I just come here to read the comments :-D
So no – one on here uses his petrol stations. Hardly surprising given that most of ye spend all day every day on here moaning and whinging.
Where will ye all go for a moan if he ever buys the Journal?
any jobs goin dob?!
Javla fitta
The Garda GAA team are also sponsored by topaz. This man runs the country. And there’s nothing we can do about it.
Does Toepus do all the Garda cars fuels as well?
Top and topaz have it to themselves now. Watch fuel prices go up as they increase margins further
Let’s hope any future government policies on climate change or national energy sustainability such as increasing fuel taxes or promoting electrification of transport won’t be vetoed from Malta.
have your say