Petroleum and Commercial Fuel Mergers & Acquisitions
Attorneys on the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions team have significant experience advising petroleum and commercial fuel distributors, marketers and jobbers, as well as convenience store operators with stores counts ranging from low single digits to well into the thousands, in acquisitions and dispositions. These transactions often include the buying/selling of company assets and equity ownership interests. This experience provides us with keen insight into the unique legal needs of petroleum and commercial fuel marketers, distributors and convenience store operators.
These transactions often trigger federal, state, or local environmental and permitting requirements. As such, our deal teams and environmental and regulatory lawyers are accustomed to mitigating the risk of environmental liability on these transactions and assisting in all permitting requirements, including environmental and ABC.
In addition, our experienced finance and real estate practice group is accustomed to managing the simultaneous sale of large real estate portfolios including those held by petroleum and commercial fuel distributors and marketers as well as convenience store operators.
While never looked for, these transactions sometimes lead to litigation following their closings, and Williams Mullen has extensive courtroom experience in a range of petroleum related litigation, including retail dealer pricing disputes, enforcement of rights of first refusals and branding covenants, quiet title matters and other real estate related litigation and defending and prosecuting a variety of disputes under both the Virginia and Federal Petroleum Marketing Acts (PMPA).
Williams Mullen also devotes considerable resources to staying abreast of industry via memberships in the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA) and the Virginia Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Association (VPMCA). Its attorneys regularly attend and present at industry conferences and legal seminars addressing a variety of business and legal topics pertaining to the petroleum and commercial fuels industries.
Additionally, Williams Mullen has worked with well-known investment bankers in the industry on many transactions, and regularly consults with a variety of industry partners.
Legal activity in the petroleum and commercial fuel industry requires careful planning and execution. From mergers and acquisitions to risk mitigation, the team at Williams Mullen has the experience required to get your deal done, effectively and efficiently.
Experience
- Representation of Virginia based Miller Oil Co. for over thirty years, including the sale of the company’s 21 company-operated convenience retail stores, two company-owned dealer-operated stores, and over 70 wholesale dealers to Global Partners LP.
- Representation of Quarles Petroleum, Inc., one of the largest propane and refined fuels distribution companies in the U.S., for over thirty (30) years, including in their sale of their propane and bulk distribution businesses to Superior Plus Energy Services, Inc. and their fleet fueling and dealer supply businesses to GPM Investments.
- Representation of Story Distributing Company, a Montana-based wholesaler and retailer of petroleum fuel product, in their sale to Parkland Corporation.
- Representation of an oil and energy company in the sale of $104 million convenience store chain to a leading convenience store business and supplier, marketer and retailer of fuel and related products.
- Representation of North Carolina-based Li'l Thrift Food Marts Inc. and its affiliates (dba Short Stop) in the sale of their 43-petroleum marketing and convenience retail stores to Petroleum Marketing Group, Inc. (PMG).
- Representation of Virginia-based Tidewater Convenience, Inc. in the sale of its business to Global Partners, LP. The acquisition included 15 locations (14 company-operated) in southeast Virginia.
- Representation of Putnam Co. and Acorn Markets, Inc., a fuel distributor since 1938, and a branded marketer for ExxonMobil since the late 1980’s, in its $25 million sale of assets to United Refining Company of Pennsylvania.
- Representation of West Oil, Inc., in the sale of 25 of its Markette convenience stores and one Lotto Land convenience store in South Carolina to FR Refuel, LLC.
- Representation of a regional provider of residential propane and oil, commercial delivered fuels, fleet card sites and services, and lubricants in its acquisition of a propane distribution and service business.
- Representation of a regional provider of residential propane and oil, commercial delivered fuels, fleet card sites and services, and lubricants in its acquisition of a fuel distribution and services business in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
- Representation of a regional provider of residential propane, heating oil, commercial delivered fuels in the acquisition of a propane terminal and distribution business, including 16 parcels of real estate.
- Representation of a regional provider of residential and commercial fuels in its acquisition of the propane and petroleum operations of a distributor based in northern Virginia.
