Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.
In a joint statement, NPD and Gull said each of their combined 240 sites would retain their distinctive brand.
AA principal policy adviser Terry Collins said both companies had a low-cost business model.
“What that means is that the savings are passed on to customers. When Gull first arrived with that model in New Zealand it became known as the Gull effect because it dropped the prices and competitors had to match it,” he said.
“Now you’ve got two strong companies with a similar model seeking to merge their business and utilise their assets a lot more efficiently.
“If they do that, then we’ll obviously see lower prices as they pass them on, but how much savings they can make and pass on is yet to be seen.”
Collins believed merging would be a smart business move for both companies.
“Basically, it secures their supply for the company, and it also has the synergy of their own terminal in Mount Maunganui that Gull had and all the freight and trucking logistics in the South Island that NPD did,” he said.
“Gull was owned by an investment company out of Australia and NPD is a family owned operator, so they’ve got two sharp kind of management teams together who have known their business for a long time.”
Collins noted that over this holiday period, generally all the oil companies seemed to be making excessive margins.
“We’ve been tracking the price of fuel for the last couple of months and we’re watching as the international landed prices dropped, the retail prices haven’t dropped at the same level,” he said.
“I think what they need to be doing is drop some of those prices more. Fuel in the first quarter of next year should be much cheaper unless something major geopolitically happens.
“The price of oil has been below US$60 at some stages and we want to see those savings passed on to our motorists.”
– RNZ
