Subadra Consulting is proud to have supported Essar Energy Transition Retail (EET Retail) with environmental due diligence for its acquisition of SGN Retail’s substantial UK petrol filling station portfolio.
The transaction adds 118 forecourts to EET Retail’s existing 117-site network, creating a nationwide platform of 235 fuel forecourts.
For a transaction of this scale, understanding environmental risk consistently across the portfolio was an important part of the due diligence process.
Arjun Saraf, M&A EET Fuels:
“Subadra’s specialist experience across petrol filling station portfolios was invaluable. Their pragmatic, risk-based approach gave us clear visibility of environmental liabilities across a complex multi-site transaction and supported informed decision-making throughout the acquisition.”
Environmental due diligence at portfolio scale
Petrol filling stations have a distinctive environmental risk profile. Fuel may have been stored, transferred and dispensed at the same location for decades, meaning even well-operated sites can carry historical environmental liabilities.
These can include contamination associated with current or former underground storage tanks and fuel lines, petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and groundwater, drainage and interceptor issues, vapour risks and impacts on controlled waters.
For an acquisition involving more than 100 sites, however, identifying potential issues is only part of the challenge.
The purchaser needs to understand which risks are material, their potential significance and what action may be required.
A consistent, risk-based approach allows issues to be compared and prioritised across the portfolio, distinguishing manageable operational risks from those that may require further investigation, contractual protection, remediation or future capital expenditure.
More than 520 sites across major PFS transactions
This transaction builds on Subadra Consulting’s extensive experience supporting clients with multi-site petrol filling station portfolios.
Over the last decade, we have advised on several significant portfolio transactions:
2016: 40 sites | 2017: 33 sites | 2018: 61 sites | 2021: 99 sites
2023: 83 sites | 2024: 15 sites | 2025: 75 sites | 2026: 118 sites
Together, these major transactions represent more than 520 petrol filling stations, in addition to our wider work for clients across the sector.
From identifying risk to resolving it
Our experience extends beyond due diligence.
Over the past five years, Subadra Consulting has delivered more than £2 million of remediation works at petrol filling stations and larger fuel depots, using a combination of in-situ remediation techniques and soil excavation.
This practical experience means that when we identify a potential liability during due diligence, we understand what happens next: how an issue is investigated, assessed, managed, costed and ultimately resolved.
Combining specialist contaminated-land and petrol filling station expertise with pragmatic project management and technically robust risk assessment allows us to turn complex environmental information into clear, commercially relevant advice.
For acquisition teams, legal advisers and other stakeholders, that means understanding not simply whether an environmental risk exists, but what it could mean for the transaction.
Subadra Consulting has been providing environmental consultancy services since 1993, and we were delighted to bring that experience to this significant acquisition.
Congratulations to Arjun Saraf, EET Retail and everyone involved in completing the transaction.
If you are acquiring, disposing of or managing petrol filling stations or other fuel infrastructure, get in touch with Subadra Consulting to discuss environmental due diligence, risk assessment and remediation support.
