How Sanjeev Soosaipillai and Arani Soosaipillai Built Prax Group from a Single Petrol Station

In 1999, a Sri Lankan-born couple operating out of a leased filling station in Hertfordshire began what would eventually become one of Britain’s largest independent energy companies. The story of Sanjeev Soosaipillai and Arani Soosaipillai is not one of inherited capital or well-connected backers. It is a story built on a £15,000 bank loan, maxed-out credit cards, and a readiness to place every personal asset — including family homes — on the line.

Sanjeev arrived in Britain at 17, having fled Sri Lanka’s civil war. He was working in his uncle’s corner shop within a day of landing. Arani had left Sri Lanka with her family at age 12, also because of the conflict. The two met at the University of Kent, where both studied Accounting and finance. Before the business existed, Sanjeev was already developing commercial instincts — he funded his studies by importing shirts from Sri Lanka and cars from Japan, even borrowing money from Arani to cover the risk on the latter venture.

Their introduction to fuel retail came through direct experience. Sanjeev had worked weekend shifts as a petrol station cashier during his school years, while Arani’s father operated his own filling stations. When a station owner in St Albans approached retirement and agreed to lease rather than sell his site — the Classic Petrol Station — the couple moved quickly. No upfront premium was required; they needed only to cover inventory costs and an advance on quarterly rent.

Working capital remained the central obstacle. Sanjeev persuaded a branch bank manager at HSBC to lend them £15,000 — the maximum the manager could approve without higher authorisation — on the basis of financial projections Sanjeev has since admitted were largely improvised. Even that sum fell short. The couple used credit cards and remortgaged their flat to bridge the gap. As Sanjeev has described the period, they put everything they had into starting the business, going “to Kingdom Come” to make it work.

The operation launched as a two-person partnership. Arani continued working full-time elsewhere during the early months, returning each evening to manage the accounts. Their main fuel supplier, Elf Oil UK, extended 10-day credit terms, and because most revenue came through cash or card sales, the business generated positive liquidity from the start. That structural advantage gave them a foundation to scale.

State Oil Limited was incorporated in 2000 with a share capital of £2. By 2001, additional sites in Nutley, Great Yarmouth, Tunbridge Wells, and Golding Barn had been acquired, funded through retained earnings, HSBC mortgages, and personal loans. A charge was subsequently placed over Arani’s parents’ house in 2003, and the home of Sanjeev’s relatives in the UK was remortgaged in 2007 to provide further capital. The risks were not abstract — they were carried directly by people close to the founders.

The company’s Weybridge headquarters was chosen because it sat roughly midway between where Sanjeev and Arani were each working at the time. Their first office was so small that a former managing director referred to it as “the broom cupboard,” with four desks squeezed inside. Sanjeev has acknowledged that the cramped space was where the entire operation grew from during its formative years.

The business shifted from retail into wholesale fuel distribution in 2002 through a new subsidiary, Prax Petroleum Limited. Partnerships with marine fuel specialists provided the consignment structures and credit needed to pursue international contracts. Revenues reached £75.8 million by 2007 and £420 million by 2011. In 2012, bilateral credit lines from institutions including Société Générale, Natixis, and BCGE allowed the company to purchase oil cargoes directly, ending its reliance on supplier financing. Revenues that year stood at £541 million.

As Arani Soosaipillai’s profile reflects, her contribution extended well beyond the early accounting work. She served as Chief Human Resources and Corporate Officer as the group matured, and Sanjeev has been explicit about the role she played in sustaining the business through its highest-risk phases. “She provided the support and strength which has enabled me to be so dedicated to the business,” he has said. “If you imagine some of the huge risks we took, she was always 100% behind me.”

By the time Prax Group marked its 25th anniversary in September 2024, it employed 1,450 people, held gross assets of $2.3 billion and net assets of $604 million, and operated across crude oil supply, petroleum product storage, refining, and distribution — with peak revenues reaching $10 billion. The Soosaipillais’ journey offers concrete lessons for anyone attempting to build a capital-intensive business without institutional backing: disciplined cash management, a willingness to use personal assets to underwrite growth, and the strategic use of partnerships at each stage of expansion. None of that is accidental — it is the accumulated result of decisions made under genuine financial pressure, starting with a single leased petrol station and a loan secured on improvised projections.