Sej Sejpal, the man behind Platinum Retail, has said he has finance in place acquire 40 further filling stations.
Speaking exclusively to Forecourt Trader Sejpal, who co-founded MFG in 1999, begun Platinum in 2011 and has since grown it to a 60-site operation, said: “We have 60 now, and we’ll keep going. We have the facility with our bank to have 100 sites.”
Sejpal explained the facility arose after he was contacted separately by two finance firms: “I was approached by two banks – first one, then a few weeks later another approached me, and both wanted to work with me. I gave them the time of day, and in the end we decided they would form a ‘club bank’ with my existing funders.”
Expansion is very much on Platinum’s mind, then, as was seen with the recent purchase of five sites from Sterling Petroleum – although initially the idea was to have 40 sites, as Sejpal’s son and Platinum’s operations manager, Jamie, who has been with the firm for over a decade, explains:
“When I started working with dad he always said he wanted to get to 40 sites. But then covid hit and everyone was selling, and we got there quite quickly. So then it was 50 sites, then he said ‘Let’s do 60’, and here we are.”
But while Sej says being well-known in the industry means “agents are always calling”, he considers forecourt property prices to be overheated at present, and would approach any potential purchases with typical nous:
“There’s one thing: you can get carried away with acquisitions. There are so few sites being built that the market is pretty false at the moment. When I look at what some sites are going for, I don’t understand why somone paid so much.”
Sej also sounds a note of caution over firms looking to expand with a view to eventually selling up:
“When you get to a certain level, finding a buyer is difficult. If you’re looking to sell a portfolio, 20 to 30 sites is a sensible number. But when you get to 60, 100 or more, who is going to be big enough to buy you?”
With that in mind, despite having considered retirement in the past, Sejpal has every intention of keeping going. He says that four years ago his wife agreed he could work for another 18 months. “So that’s an ongoing discussion”, he jokes, adding:
“I Iove what I do, so it doesn’t feel like work to me. I have a fantastic team around me and I work the hours I like. I’ve been doing this for so long that I don’t get stressed out. People say you know this business after five or 10 years, but I think it takes 30 or 40 to really understand it.”
