---
title: "French giant files suit to stop Morrisons from acquiring £2.5bn worth of petrol forecourts"
publisher: "Stockmark.IT"
author: "Stockmark.IT Website"
published: "2024-05-20T04:13:58+00:00"
modified: "2024-05-20T04:13:58+00:00"
date: 2024-05-20
canonical: "https://stockmark.it/french-giant-files-suit-to-stop-morrisons-from-acquiring-2-5bn-worth-of-petrol-forecourts/"
category: "Companies"
categories: ["Companies"]
image: "https://i0.wp.com/stockmark.it/wp-content/uploads/stencil.default-19-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&quality=89&ssl=1"
format: "news"
language: "en-GB"
---

# French giant files suit to stop Morrisons from acquiring £2.5bn worth of petrol forecourts

**Published:** May 20, 2024
**Author:** Stockmark.IT Website
**Categories:** Companies
**Featured image:** ![Person pumping gas into a car at a petrol station. from Stockmark.it](https://i0.wp.com/stockmark.it/wp-content/uploads/stencil.default-19-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&quality=89&ssl=1)

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Bouygues, a French conglomerate, is trying to block Morrisons from selling its petrol forecourts to them in a heated dispute over the rights to operate electric vehicle chargers on the sites.

Equans EV Solutions is a subsidiary company of Bouygues – a 13 billion euro (11 billion pounds sterling) multinational with interests ranging from television to construction – and it has filed a lawsuit against Morrisons over alleged contract breach.

Equans and Morrisons have signed an agreement in 2019 that grants Equans the exclusive right to install charging equipment on 273 Morrisons locations.

The Bradford-based chain of supermarkets walked away two weeks after it announced a deal in January to sell 337 petrol stations to Motor Fuel Group.

Morrisons now has the funds it needs to shore up its debt, which was £6.6 billion when Clayton, Dubilier & Rice acquired Morrisons in 2022.

MFG, Britain’s largest forecourt operator, was attracted to the deal because it offered the chance to install electric vehicle chargers on all Morrisons forecourts.

Equans, who had installed charging equipment in 260 Morrisons stores, was blindsided. The company filed a claim at the High Court describing Morrisons’ decision as “arbitrary and capricious”.

Morrisons informed Equan that they had no contract between them. The supermarket chain claimed Equans consistently failed to meet its target service levels and that these failures caused significant losses, for which it expects compensation.

Morrisons told Equans it was also concerned about its insolvency. Bouygues acquired Equans for €6.1 billion by 2022.

According to a source at Morrisons, Equans is using the MFG contract to opportunistically cast its performance problems in a new light. Equans, however, argues that Morrisons did not indicate that its performance was below par and that, even if this was the case, it does not constitute a breach contract. The company replaced 172 defective chargers in Morrisons stores.

Equans filed a claim in March to stop Morrisons from selling the forecourts. The deal with MFG was completed last month, and a retailer source said that it could not be undone. Investors may be concerned about the case because of the importance of this deal for the heavily indebted grocery chain.

Equans wants the court also to confirm its exclusive rights to the sites and rule that it hasn’t breached Morrisons’ contract. The company also wants damages from Morrisons.

Morrisons plans to file their defence by the end the month. According to a source within the company, it strongly disagreed with Equans’ arguments and was confident of its own position.

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