Investment in new shop formats and branding will be the first priority if Rikki Hunt goes ahead with his plans for Fuelforce 2.

The old Fuelforce network is being broken up and sold off in chunks to Somerfield, Murco and Malthurst, following the move by one of the company’s investors to sell up and realise its assets.

But the remainder of the sites – about 60 – was likely to be bought by Hunt, who resigned as chairman of Fuelforce at the end of April, so he could start the bid to buy back part of his old company.

Plans announced at a Fuelforce conference in January for new-format shops bearing Kestrel branding – which were scheduled for the old network – would be rolled out as soon as possible on the smaller group of Fuelforce sites once contracts were completed.

Hunt says the deal looks good and he’s 90% sure that it will go ahead.