Malthurst (UK) Limited and Refined Holdings Limited - of which Pace Petroleum is a part - have become wholly-owned subsidiaries of a new holding company, MRH (GB) Ltd - which has also bought two property companies. The new company is owned by Graham Peacock, Susan Tobbell, Fraser Duffin and Andrew Jackson, all of whom hold directorships and senior management positions within both Refined

Holdings and Malthurst groups. Meanwhile operations director Brian Thompson, and company secretary Ed Bird, are retiring,while Dennis Poole - who has extensive experience in senior roles at the TotalFina Elf group - has been appointed as non-executive chairman.

The combined group sells and supplies more than 1.7 billion litres of fuel in the retail and wholesale sector and operates more than 280 forecourts, making it the largest privately-owned UK petrol retailer.