Blarney Castle Oil Co. has acquired the petroleum marketing and convenience retail business of Pri Mar Petroleum Inc.
St. Joseph, Michigan-based Pri Mar operates 13 Pri Mart convenience stores and supplies 12 wholesale dealers in southwestern Michigan, selling fuels under the bp, Amoco and CITGO brands.
- Blarney Castle Oil is No. 46 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
In a separate transaction, Merle Boes Inc. has acquired Pri Mar’s delivered fuels and lubricants business. Pri Mar delivers commercial fuels, heating oil and lubricants to more than 2,000 customers from its three bulk plants.
Pri Mar is a third-generation, family-owned and operated business that was founded by Harry Priebe and his brother in 1928 as a distributor of petroleum products to farm, industrial and home heating customers. In 1972, Harry Priebe’s son-in-law, L. Richard Marzke, took over the company and combined portions of the two surnames to create Pri Mar Petroleum.
Pri Mar’s first convenience store opened in Stevensville, Michigan, in 1976. The company, which employs approximately 120 team members, remains family-owned under the leadership of Kurt Marzke, CEO; Craig Marzke, executive vice president and COO; and Kevin Marzke, vice president and chief technology officer.
Richmond, Virginia-based Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory services to Pri Mar, including valuation advisory, marketing the businesses through the confidential, structured sale processes and negotiation of the transactions. Vance Saunders, managing director, and Kyle Tipping, vice president, managed the transactions. Otto Konrad and Kaitlin Cottle of Williams Mullen served as legal counsel for Pri Mar on both transactions.
Blarney Castle Oil, based in Bear Lake, Michigan, is a family-owned business operating c-stores under the EZ Mart brand, with fuel brand names including bp, Marathon, Mobil, Shell and Sunoco. Most of the company’s 183 c-stores are in northern Michigan, with the remaining locations in central and southern Michigan. Blarney Castle also owns and operates 10 bulk plants that offer propane and home heating oil service, commercial fuel and bulk lubricant sales.
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