NORFOLK, Va. — Miller Oil Co. Inc., doing business as Millers Energy, is selling 21 company-operated convenience stores, two company-owned dealer-operated stores and more than 70 wholesale dealer accounts in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida to two buyers. Global Partners LP is acquiring the 23 stores and the wholesale dealer accounts in Virginia and North Carolina. Sunshine Gasoline Distributors Inc. is acquiring all of the wholesale dealer accounts in Florida.
For Global Partners, the fuel supply agreements consist of 34 locations primarily in Virginia, the company said.
“After 40 years in a great industry that gave me and my family so much, we decided to focus on other areas of our business,” said President Jeffrey Miller, who has managed the company for the last 25 years. “We feel Global is a good fit culturally and feel confident our brand and employees will be well taken care of.”
Eric Slifka, president and CEO of Global Partners, Waltham, Mass., said, “The addition of Miller’s significantly expands our retail presence in the mid-Atlantic region and complements our portfolio of over 80 controlled sites and dealer network. Acquiring these high-quality locations enables us to further capitalize on our scale, supply relationships and our integrated model to enhance product margin along each step of the value chain. Like Global, Miller’s is a family-founded business with shared values around community and a commitment to customer experience. This purchase demonstrates our appetite to grow our book of business.”
Augustus “Gus” Miller founded Miller Oil in 1977 when he purchased Exxon Co. USA’s home heating oil business in Norfolk, Va. Throughout the 1980s, the company experienced significant growth as the business expanded into convenience retailing and petroleum marketing. In the 2000s, the company expanded its fuels distribution business into southern Florida with the acquisition of a dealer portfolio. President Jeffrey Miller has managed the company for the last 25 years.
In addition to the petroleum marketing, fuels distribution and convenience retail business sold, Miller Oil owns and operates a heating oil distribution and HVAC service business with operations in Virginia, from Virginia Beach to Manassas, which the company will continue to own and grow.
Richmond, Va.-based independent investment bank Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Miller, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the transaction. Cedric Fortemps, co-head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group, managed the transaction, with Martin McElroy Jr., senior associate, and Michael Tucker, senior analyst.
- Global Partners is No. 27 on CSP's 2021 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by number of company-owned retail outlets. Sunshine Gasoline is No. 20.
With approximately 1,600 locations primarily in the Northeast, Waltham, Mass.-based Global Partners is one of the region’s largest independent owners, suppliers and operators of gas stations and c-stores. It operates approximately 280 convenience stores in the Northeast. Brands include Alltown, Alltown Fresh, XtraMart, Honey Farms, Jiffy Mart, T-Bird, Mr. Mike’s, Fast Freddie’s, Convenience Plus and P&H Truck Stop. In January, Global Partners also acquired the Wheels c-store chain from Consumers Petroleum of Connecticut Inc., Milford, Conn.
Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, owned by Cuban-American Maximo Alvarez, is one of the largest gasoline distributors in Florida, supplying 543 gas stations and owning 395. While most of Sunshine's c-stores are unbranded, its gasoline brands include Shell, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Marathon and CITGO.
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