The takeover of Ireland’s largest convenience and fuel retailer, Topaz Energy Group, by the Canadian convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard has been completed.

The companies announced the completion after the EU Commission ratified the deal, which was agreed in early December.

Niall Anderton, formerly chief financial officer (CFO) of Topaz, has been appointed managing director in succession to Emmet O’Neil. O’Neill stepped down on the completion of the transaction.

Anderton joined Topaz as CFO a year ago. He has a strong retail background, having held senior executive positions in Primark, O2 and Brown Thomas.

Jørn Madsen, Couche-Tard’s executive vice president for central and eastern Europe and responsible for its business in Ireland, said: “We are very pleased to have closed the transaction in such a timely manner and are ready to shift our focus to fully integrating Topaz into the Couche-Tard family.

“We are particularly pleased that Niall will take over as the leader of our business in Ireland. We have been working closely with Niall over the last few months and we are certain that he is the right person to lead Topaz through the next phase of its development.”

Anderton said: “It’s a tremendous honour to be given this responsibility. We have a really exciting and ambitious agenda ahead, completing the integration of the Esso business here in Ireland and our integration into the wider Couche-Tard family, while always maintaining our focus on our customers and partners.

“Couche-Tard is an exceptional company which is committed to becoming the world’s preferred convenience and fuel retailer. Its presence in Ireland will bring significant benefits to consumers. I’m really looking forward to leading this business over the coming years and to meeting all our partners and dealers and, most importantly, our customers.”

Topaz owns 158 service stations across the island of Ireland, and supplies 286 dealers. The agreement also encompasses a commercial fuels operation, with over 30 depots and two owned terminals.

Couche-Tard has approximately 15,000 sites across its network in North America (US and Canada), Europe (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the Baltics and Russia), Asia and the Middle East, employing about 100,000 people.

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