DALLAS and SANTA ANA, Calif. — Itochu Corp. and its subsidiary IPC USA Inc. have sold IPC’s U.S. wholesale petroleum distribution business to TACenergy, a division of aviation and energy marketing company The Arnold Cos. (TAC).
The companies did not disclose the terms of the sale. Independent investment bank Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger-and-acquisition advisory services to Itochu and IPC to divest the business.
IPC, founded in 2004, is wholesale distributor of diesel, gasoline and other petroleum products. On an annual basis, the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company markets and distributes more than 1 billion gallons of petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuels, natural gas and ethanol to customers. It delivers products to retail gas stations, trucking companies, industrial end users and municipalities in about 30 states, with its largest concentration of business on the West Coast.
Itochu dates back to 1858 when the company’s founder, Chubei Itoh, began linen trading operations. Today, Tokyo-based Itochu is a Japanese conglomerate engaged in overseas trading and imports and exports of products such as textiles, machinery, metals, minerals, energy, chemicals, food and communications technology, as well as insurance, logistics services, construction, finance and global business investment.
TACenergy, Dallas, is a national independent wholesale fuels distributor of refined petroleum products. Customers include branded and unbranded gasoline marketers; diesel retailers; and transportation, trucking, government, utilities, mining, construction and other commercial users or resellers of fuel.
The acquisition will position TACenergy as one of the largest national wholesale fuel suppliers in the country, it said, with annual sales exceeding 2.7 billion gallons and more than $5 billion in revenue.
Increasing its West Coast presence with the IPC sales team, TACenergy will maintain offices in Santa Ana and Sacramento, Calif., and Seattle.
“We are very excited to bring on an experienced West Coast sales force. The combined team will have a stronger supply footprint, a more efficient administrative machine and the same strong level of service the customer base has experienced,” said TAC Chairman and CEO Greg Arnold.
“We are already working to harness the expertise of both groups to deliver innovation across the wholesale fuel sales network, leveraging national supply resources and managing administrative and logistics capabilities,” said Fred Sloan, chief operating officer of TACenergy. “The acquisition builds upon the existing relationships of unbranded and branded fuel products, which include Sinclair gasoline and Neste MY renewable diesel, allowing TACenergy to expand into the renewable diesel category and provide new alternatives for existing customers.”
Many of the key operational and sales management team members will be joining TACenergy, including Randy Jones, who joins TACenergy as vice president of sales and operations, covering the combined national footprint of the organization. Mitch Lewis, general manager of sales, will cover Southern California, and Jim Harper, general manager of sales, will cover Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.
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