Dive Brief:
- Fuel distributor Offen Petroleum has acquired the wholesale business of Douglass Distributing for an undisclosed amount, according to a Tuesday announcement.
- The deal adds over 150 gas stations to Offen’s network, which includes most of the contiguous U.S. except for the Northeast. Offen will hire “virtually all the employees of Douglass’ wholesale business,” according to the announcement.
- This marks Offen’s 10th acquisition since 2015 and its second this year, after it acquired full-service wholesale fuel distributor Gas Depot back in January.
Dive Insight:
Although Offen already has a presence in Texas, Douglass’ wholesale division will become its regional operations center as it aims to expand throughout the state along with nearby markets. Offen will run these operations from Douglass’ existing campus in Sherman, Texas.
Douglass serves customers primarily in Texas and Oklahoma and distributes more than 200 millions gallons of fuel annually. Beyond its wholesale segment, Douglass also operates a propane business that has more than 4,600 residential customers, as well as a commercial segment that has more than 2,800 fuel, lubricant and diesel exhaust fluid customers.
One of Douglass’ affiliates owns and operates 23 Lone Star Food Stores convenience stores in the north Texas area. However, those locations are not included in the deal with Offen.
Douglass was founded in 1947 with three employees. It now has 340 team members across all its divisions, according to the announcement.
“This acquisition will allow us to establish an operations center in Sherman, Texas, and we will hire the employees of the Douglass wholesale business,” Bill Gallagher, CEO of Offen, said in the announcement. “This business will serve as our platform to accelerate our growth in the Texas marketplace.”
Commerce City, Colorado-based Offen is a portfolio company of Court Square Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm. Besides motor fuels, Offen sells propane and lubricant products and solutions for the commercial, industrial, residential and passenger car segments, as well as diesel exhaust fluids used in emission controls.
