SUSSEX, Va. — An affiliate of Petroleum Marketing Group Inc. (PMG) has acquired the travel centers, convenience stores and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) of Davis Oil Co. Inc.
The two Davis Travel Centers are high-volume, full-service travel centers located along I-95 and I-85 in south central Virginia and are part of the AMBEST network of independent truckstops, according to the company. Davis also operates two large-format convenience stores under the Davis Express store brand and numerous branded QSRs, which include Wendy’s, Popeyes, Little Caesars, Subway, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. The travel centers and convenience stores offer Exxon- or Mobil-branded fuels, and the two travel centers also sell unbranded diesel fuels at their high-speed diesel islands.
Davis Oil was founded in 1956 in Sussex, Va., when Irvin Davis Sr. and his son, Melvin Davis Sr., began operating a single restaurant and gasoline filling station in Stony Creek, Va. During the 1980s, Davis expanded into the convenience retail business, eventually operating up to 14 traditional c-stores. Now under the leadership of Melvin (“Mel”) Davis Jr. and J. Rex Davis, who represent the third generation of the Davis family, the company has operated in the travel center, convenience retail, restaurant and fuels businesses for more than 65 years.
Founded in 2001, PMG is one of the major jobbers and distributors of petroleum products and operators of c-stores in the Mid-Atlantic United States, delivering more than 1 billion gallons of petroleum on an annual basis, it said. The Woodbridge Va.-based company services more than 1,000 locations, from Maine to Florida.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Davis Oil in the transaction, 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 Stephen Lynch, director, John Mickelinc, associate, and Alex Harper, analyst.
“These facilities and operations are best-in-class,” Fortemps said, “which is how [David Oil] developed such a large and loyal commercial driver and passenger vehicle customer base from travelers along the I-95 and I-85 corridors in southern Virginia.”
Richmond, Va.-based Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group provides transactional advisory services to companies in the downstream energy and multisite retail sectors, including convenience retailing, petroleum marketing and distribution, propane distribution, heating oil distribution, lubricants distribution, petroleum logistics, terminals and car washes.
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