BALTIMORE -- Having completed the sale of its 70 stores in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., markets, BP has also sold its fueling contracts in the area to local distributor Carroll Independent Fuel Co. The Baltimore-based company, which also purchased nine of the stores, will add the BP stores to the CITGO and Sunoco sites it already supplies in the markets.
BP still has the fuel branded Amoco in this area, and that's a big advantage in metro-Baltimore, John Phelps, executive vice president of Carroll Independent Fuel, told CSP Daily News. Since Baltimore [image-nocss] was the birthplace of American Oil, the Amoco brand is very strong here.
BP sold the stores as part of an ongoing review of its retail markets and strategies, according to a BP spokesperson. While the Big Oil company will no longer own or operate any stores in the market, all the sites will remain branded BP under the terms of the sale agreements.
Carroll Independent Fuel now owns about 40 c-stores and supplies fuel to about 210 stores in the greater Baltimore area. Of the 70 new stores Carroll will supply, 61 were purchased by a variety of BP dealers. The retailers purchased those properties from BP, and then we purchased the rights to supply them, said Phelps. It was a good strategic fit, and we're real excited to have those retailers in our family.
Founded in 1907, Carroll Independent Fuel is a highly diversified distributor of premium fuel products to residential and commercial customers in the greater Baltimore and Washington, D.C., region.With the addition of the BP fuel assets, Carroll's sales will exceed 300 million gallons annually of heating and motor fuels, and Carroll Branded Fuels, a division of Carroll Independent Fuels, becomes the leading distributor of branded and unbranded motor fuels in the greater Baltimore region.
The sales were facilitated by Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., Richmond, Va. Matrix provided acquisition and capital raising advisory services to consummate the transaction, according to the company.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.