Engineer’s Associates Inc. and its affiliates, doing business as National Petroleum, has sold its petroleum marketing and convenience retail business to Union City, California-based Poppy Markets LLC, the company announced Thursday.
National operates a chain of 11 convenience stores and retail fuel outlets and a wholesale fuels distribution business that supplies more than 100 dealers, according to Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., which provided merger and acquisition advisory services to National. A price for the deal was not disclosed.
The Newark, California-based company was founded in 2004 when partners Sanjiv Patel and Nick Patel acquired a 76-branded gas station in Berkeley, California. They built the portfolio, and in 2013, National expanded into wholesale fuels distribution and launched its proprietary National fuel brand at both company operated and dealer sites.
National also markets fuels under the Valero, Chevron, Shell, Exxon and Mobil brands. At the time of the sale, National had grown to nearly 100 million gallons of fuel sales across its company operated and wholesale network, the vast majority of which was unbranded, Matrix said.
Poppy is owned by Vintners Distributors/Loop Neighborhood Market, Fremont, California. Poppy opened its fourth store in December. It has locations in Adelanto, Arbuckle, Pittsburg and Pismo Beach, California, according to its website. Poppy representatives could not immediately be reached for more information on the acquisition.
- Vintners Distributors, which owns Loop Neighborhood Market, is No. 54 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
Vintners Distributors, which operates the Loop Neighborhood Market and Poppy Market brands, is supported by more than 20 fuel tankers that are visible on the highways throughout the Bay Area, where more than 100 company-operated stores are located. The company also operates gas stations and car washes and develops real estate. Vintners has a wholesale division that delivers fuel to about 60 dealer locations in the market, but the company has no other influence on products or operations for those locations.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.