On 15 May 1948, Fathi (Fred) Shahin and his family moved to
Lebanon following their
expulsion from
Palestine after the
1948 Arab–Israeli War and the
Israeli Declaration of Independence. Shahin was ten at the time. Shahin later went to night school to qualify as an accountant. Shahin's son Khalil (Charlie) Shahin later stated that his father's training and occupation was pivotal to the company's success, as he acted as a "de-facto
CFO". Peregrine was founded in 1984 with the purchase of the service station, soon followed by a chain of Smokemart (
tobacco retailer) stores across Adelaide. After Fred's death, three of his sons,
Yasser, Khalil (Charlie) and Samer (Sam) took over the business. The acquired sites were rebranded and upgraded to 24-hour
On The Run sites. By April 2023, Peregrine owned a chain of more than 170 OTR convenience stores and service stations. The Shahin family were included on the
BRW Rich 200 list in 2014. In 2016, Peregrine acquired the rights to operate
Guzman y Gomez restaurants in South Australia. In 2020, Peregrine Corporation was listed at number nine in the
Australian Financial Reviews "Top 500 Private Companies", with an estimated annual revenue of $2.6 billion. , Peregrine was the 9th largest privately owned company in Australia, and the largest in South Australia. In April 2023 Peregrine Corporation agreed terms to sell its
OTR service station chain to
Viva Energy. The transaction is subject to
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and
Foreign Investment Review Board clearance. The acquisition also includes Peregrine's businesses of Smokemart and Giftbox (SMGB) and Mogas. The Shahin family will also be a shareholder of Viva Energy. The Shahin family's ownership of the Peregrine Property, Construction & Development (PCI) and Motorsport (The Bend and Mallala) divisions remains unchanged. In February 2024, Charlie (Khalil), separate to Peregrine, through his company Atayf purchased Aileron Station and the nearby Oolloo Farm (now Katayf farm) in the
Northern Territory. Aileron produces beef and Katayf produces fodder.
Controversies Nasmin Pty Ltd, the registered owner of Nasmin Farm, was fined $28,000 for the 2012 dumping of of slightly contaminated soil, taken from the redevelopment of an On the Run store located on Nasmin Farm. In 2018 the OTR brand of the company received significant criticism from consumers and environmental groups for a decision to ban reusable coffee cups, amongst growing concerns of the negative effect of the 1.2 billion disposable cups that end-up in landfill in Australia each year. In August 2020 Peregrine was ordered by the South Australian Employment Tribunal to pay $65,000 to an employee after being found to have deliberately underpaid him over the period of a year in 2016, at an OTR at
Fulham. In 2020 there was opposition by local residents to a planned OTR outlet on
Kensington Road in
Kensington Park, and to the expansion of the Peregrine headquarters building in
Kensington to a height of seven storeys with a
helipad on top of the building. ==References==