Dive Brief:

• Convenience and fuel distributor Petroleum Marketing Group (PMG) has acquired fellow East Coast gasoline supplier Mystic Oil Company for an undisclosed amount, according to a Wednesday announcement.
• The acquisition includes Mystic Oil’s consignment and wholesale fuel supply agreements to roughly 150 Gulf, Citgo, ExxonMobil, Shell and unbranded customers across Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and Vermont.
• This marks PMG’s fifth purchase over the past year and a half as the fuel supplier also continues to grow its c-store footprint via acquisition.

Dive Insight:

Although PMG is one of the largest fuel distributors in the Eastern United States, the company has also been focused on acquiring convenience stores over the past year and a half. Last November, PMG acquired all 19 c-stores of Fayetteville, North Carolina-based Holt Oil, and six months later, it purchased 43 Short Stop c-stores from Fayetteville-based Li’l Thrift Food Marts.

Since April 2022, PMG has also acquired seven c-stores from Global Partners LP and two travel centers from Davis Oil Company.

Founded in 1956 in Mystic, Connecticut, Mystic Oil is a fourth-generation family-owned company. Mystic Oil previously operated a chain of c-stores, but sold off that arm of its business in 2008 to fully focus on the wholesale fuel segment. Mystic’s current president, Peter Zelken, took over leadership and acquired the company from his father, Scott Zelken, in 2017.

“Peter has done a tremendous job growing Mystic Oil and making it a very attractive wholesale fuels business for any fuels company trying to establish a presence or grow in New England,” Cedric Fortemps, co-head of Matrix Capital Markets’ downstream energy & convenience retail investment banking group, said in the announcement. Matrix advised Mystic on its sale.

Falls Church, Virginia-based PMG is one of the largest fuel distributors in the Eastern U.S. The company’s fuel network includes more than 1,200 sites with locations stretching from Maine to Florida. Besides fueling and convenience, the company also offers services in retail design, engineering, construction, finance, accounting, operations and management.