New sale divides acquired stores into owned and leased units.
TravelCenters of America (TA) has acquired Petro Stopping Centers—some of which for outright ownership, others for leasing.
The $700 million deal involved TA’s parent company Hospitality Properties Trust, which purchased 40 Petro fuel stops and leased them to TA for $630 million, according to Land Line Magazine. TA also bought the other Petro stops and assets for approximately $70 million.
TA President and CEO Thomas O’Brien said the two truck stop chains will operate separately, but there won’t be any drastic changes.
“The worst thing we could do is make a lot of changes too fast. I really believe there’s a great deal of value in both brands,” O’Brien said in a statement. “There are differences in operations, but both brands do certain things very well.”
Prior to the acquisition, Petro was a privately owned company headquartered in El Paso, Texas. The company has 69 travel centers in 33 states, while TA operates 164 truck stops.