Denis O'Brien's Topaz in talks to buy Esso garages

Topaz is reported to be in talks to acquire Esso Ireland's pretrol station business.

A spokesman for Topaz, which recently announced plans to create 110 jobs at two new services stations as part of a €10 million expansion, refused to confirm the talks.

However, it is understood that Topaz is close to acquiring 38 Esso owned garages. It also hopes to acquire the rights to supply another 55 dealer-owned premises that operate under the Esso brand.

Topaz currently has a 12 per cent market share of company owned garages. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, with bring its market share to 17 per cent.

It will have close to a 30 per cent market share when its company and dealer owned garages are combing with Esso.

Esso's parent Exxon Mobil has been attempting to sell off its loss-making Irish operations for a while. Esso Ireland sustained a pre-tax loss of €9.25 million in 2011, in spite of revenues climbing by 8 per cent to €706.7 million

Topaz, which was taken over by businessman Denis O’Brien last year, has an annual turnover of €3 billion and processes one million transactions every month. It employs more than 1,600 people.