Matrix Capital Markets Group, an independent investment bank, advised on the closing of the sale of the propane and refined products distribution business of Quarles Petroleum to Superior Plus Energy Services, a subsidiary of Superior Plus. The assets included in the sale to Superior comprise the company’s delivered fuels business that supplies propane and refined fuels to residential and commercial customers in Virginia and West Virginia from its large network of bulk plants and customer service centers.
Quarles was founded in 1940 by Douglas Quarles Sr. and his son, Douglas Quarles Jr. by purchasing The Home Oil Company in Warrenton, VA. Over the next 40 years, the company expanded into new regions in Virginia and acquired a storage terminal in Spotsylvania County, VA, providing a connection to the Plantation Pipeline. In the 1980’s, Quarles began opening cardlock fueling locations and convenience stores, and the company also entered the propane business. In the two decades that followed, the company opened a total of 31 Q-Stop convenience stores before selling them to 7-Eleven in 2010 to focus on the delivered fuels and fleet fueling businesses. Under the leadership of the current management team, Quarles has grown significantly over the last ten years through the continued development of its cardlock network and fleet fueling program, as well as several acquisitions of propane and refined products distribution companies including Whiting Oil Company, Northern Neck Oil Company, Northern Neck Gas, Revere Gas Company, the propane assets of PAPCO, and Dixie Gas & Oil.
Today, Quarles is one of the largest propane and refined fuels distribution companies in the U.S. and serves more than 80,000 residential and commercial customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina through a network of over 30 bulk plants, more than 120 Quarles branded cardlocks and more than 60 private cardlock sites. The sale to Superior did not include the company’s fleet fueling and cardlock assets, the wholesale dealer business or the lubricants business.
Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Quarles, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the transaction. The transaction was managed by Vance Saunders, CPA, managing director; Spencer Cavalier, CFA, co-head of Matrix’s downstream energy and convenience retail investment banking group; John Duni, CFA, CPA, vice president; and Michael Tucker, CFA, associate.
“The Matrix team was instrumental in identifying Superior as a good match to acquire our delivered fuels business. They guided us through the entire process from marketing our business to buyers to managing through the closing process,” Paul Giambra, CEO of Quarles Petroleum, said. “We’re pleased to transition our delivered fuels business to a company that shares our values of providing a high level of customer service and values the contributions of our associates to the success of our business.”
“We’ve had a long relationship with Quarles for many years and have watched them build an exceptional business,” Saunders said. “We’re honored to have had the opportunity to advise the company and its shareholders on this transaction, and we’re especially grateful for the tireless efforts of the management team to execute on a complex carveout of these assets.”
Larry Parker, Trevor Wind, Mary Katherine McGetrick, David Allen and Jonathan Bliley of Williams Mullen served as legal counsel for Quarles.
