Gull New Zealand is a New Zealand petroleum distribution company and petrol station chain. It is the country's third largest fuel retailer, with 113 locations in New Zealand including 45 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

History

Gull Petroleum began as a

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

petrol company founded by Keith Mitchell, Mark Quackenbush and Terry Lockwood in 1976. Real estate agent Fred Rae bought into the company in 1978 and became the controlling shareholder in 1994. Rae established Gull New Zealand was established in 1998, as the New Zealand arm of the business. It opened its first retail outlet in

Frankton, Hamilton Frankton is a central suburb of the city of Hamilton, New Zealand. It is the site of the city's passenger railway station, a major industrial-commercial stretch of State Highway 1, and a commercial shopping area. Frankton Borough Council was fo ...

in 1999. In December 2016, Rae agreed terms to sell Gull New Zealand to

Caltex Australia Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. It is also the brand name of non-Chevron petroleum companies in some countries (such as New Zealand, and previously A ...

(later Ampol). The sale was completed in July 2017. In 2019, Gull opened its first South Island site. In March 2021, Gull opened its 100th site in

East Tāmaki East Tāmaki is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is a largely industrial area adjacent to a rapidly growing population. Prior to the 1960s it was largely a dairy farming area. A landmark is Smales Mountain which in 2010 has the remains of ...

. The opening was celebrated by cutting 100 cents off prices for the first 100 minutes. In August 2021, Ampol announced its intentions to purchase

Z Energy Z Energy is a New Zealand fuel distributor with branded service stations. It comprises some of the former assets of Shell New Zealand and Chevron New Zealand. Shell left the New Zealand fuel distribution business in April 2010, selling its ope ...

. Its ownership of Gull New Zealand was identified as a potential roadblock to the purchase. In October 2021,

UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

valued the company at AU$400 million to AU$600 million. In February 2022, Ampol ruled out a share float of Gull. Two weeks later, it agreed to an outright sale to Australian investment firm Allegro Funds for $572 million, in order to get

Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission ( mi, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regula ...

approval to buy

. The sale was conditional on the Z Energy purchase being approved, and proceeds from the sale would be used to fund the Z Energy purchase. Ampol agreed to continue supply Gull with petrol for five years following the sale. Allegro Funds expressed an interest in expanding Gull.

References

External links

Gull New Zealand
{{Retailers in New Zealand Automotive fuel retailers Oil and gas companies of New Zealand New Zealand companies established in 1998 Retail companies established in 1998