FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Quarles Petroleum Inc. has closed on the sale of its propane and refined products distribution business to Superior Plus Energy Services for $144 million. Toronto-based Superior is a distributor and marketer of propane and distillates and related products and services, servicing more than 890,000 customer locations in the United States and Canada.
The assets included in the sale to Superior comprise Quarles’ delivered fuels business that supplies propane and refined fuels to residential and commercial customers in Virginia and West Virginia from its network of bulk plants and customer service centers.
“We’re looking forward to adding to our existing service offering in Virginia and growing our business in this attractive market,” said Luc Desjardins, Superior’s president and CEO.
Quarles, based in Fredericksburg, Va., is a propane and refined fuels distribution company in the United States 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 more than 30 bulk plants, more than 120 Quarles-branded cardlocks and more than 60 private cardlock sites.
The sale to Superior did not include Quarles Petroleum’s fleet fueling and cardlock assets, the wholesale dealer business or the lubricants business. GPM Investments LLC, a subsidiary of convenience-store retailer and petroleum wholesaler ARKO Corp., entered into an agreement with Quarles Petroleum in February to acquire certain assets including 121 branded and 64 contracted cardlock sites in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Quarles was founded in 1940 by Douglas Quarles Sr. and his son, Douglas Quarles Jr. by purchasing The Home Oil Co. in Warrenton, Va. Over the next 40 years, the company expanded into new regions in Virginia and acquired a storage terminal in Virginia, providing a connection to the Plantation Pipeline. In the 1980s, ites began opening cardlocks and convenience stores, as well as the propane business. In the two decades that followed, Quarles opened 31 Q-Stop c-stores before selling them to Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven Inc. in 2010 to focus on the delivered fuels and fleet fueling businesses.
The company grew significantly over the last 10 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 Co., Northern Neck Oil Co., Northern Neck Gas, Revere Gas Co., the propane assets of PAPCO Inc., and Dixie Gas & Oil.
Matrix Capital Markets Group, Richmond, Va., 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 Matrix team was instrumental in identifying Superior as a good match to acquire our delivered fuels business,” said Paul Giambra, CEO of Quarles Petroleum. “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.”
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