Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Florida Oil Holdings purchased 24 BP locations in Lake, Orange and Osceola counties for $33.5 million, marking its entry into the Central Florida market, according to a report by The Orlando Business Journal.
"This divestment is part of BP's previously announced plan to place all of its retail sites [image-nocss] into the hands of talented local jobbers or franchisee owners," Scott Dean, Warrenville, Ill.-based spokesperson for BP, told CSP Daily News. "They will remain BP branded and sell fuel supplied from BP's distribution terminals, but will be owned and operated by Florida Oil Holdings."
As reported in a Morgan Keegan/CSP Daily News Flash yesterday, Florida Oil Holdings acquired the stations in March in separate transactions under different business entity names, according to county records cited by the newspaper.
The purchase came as part of the firm signing a 20-year franchising agreement with BP Products North America Inc., Mark Murgash, who manages fuel distribution, real estate and construction for Florida Oil Holdings, told the paper.
The purchase represents all the BP stations in Central Florida that have ampm convenience stores, he added.
BP's U.S. Convenience Retail unit announced a plan in November 2007 to sell its approximately 700 company-owned and -operated retail sites over a two-year period. BP is marketing these sites predominately as franchise-operated sites, both dealer- and jobber-owned. It is also marketing some sites as dealer and jobber fuel-only sites. This approach is in line with BP's strategic plans to expand and grow the ampm brand to reach more consumers with its products and services.
BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through 13,000 retail outlets. The company is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. The ampm brand was founded in 1978 in Southern California by ARCO. The brand became part of BP when it acquired ARCO in 2000.
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of BP.)
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