Ampol wrote to the share market this morning to request the halt – which was duly granted – because of a pending announcement about a takeover.

“The trading halt is requested pending the anticipated release of an announcement by Ampol regarding a potential material acquisition transaction and is required to ensure Ampol shares are not trading on a misinformed basis,” the company said.

According to the Australian Financial Review, that “material acquisition” is the more than 500 Australian servos run by the British-owned EG Group for $1 billion.

Those service stations already bear the Ampol logo, which is EG’s fuel supplier in Australia.

The touted $1 billion price tag would represent a significant loss for EG Group, which entered the Australian market in 2019 when it paid $1.73 billion for the Woolworths Petrol business and its 540 outlets.

However, fuel consumption has dwindled since then due to more efficient vehicles hitting the road, the rise of working from home, and particularly the emergence and take-up of electric vehicles in Australia.

An official announcement on the takeover is likely to be made this week, with Ampol having requested the trading halt run until the market opens on Monday.