Tri-State Petroleum Corp. and its affiliates sold the company’s 25 company-operated petroleum marketing and convenience retail stores to Majors Management LLC and its affiliates. The deal also included eight wholesale dealer accounts and two commercial fuels bulk plants located in the tri-state region of western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio, according to a statement from Matrix Capital Markets Group, the independent investment bank that brokered the acquisition.
Headquartered about 30 miles outside of Atlanta in Lawrenceville, Ga., Majors Management develops, services and supports leased convenience stores with several petroleum brands in markets throughout the Southeast and South, as well as in Ohio.
Tri-State was founded in 1974 by Edward J. Coyne I and Elizabeth J. Coyne as an Atlantic Richfield distributor of tires, batteries and automotive accessories. In 1976, Tri-State began barging fuel oil through its Wheeling, W.Va., terminal and bulk plant facility that served chemical, coal and other industrial customers throughout the upper Ohio Valley region.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company implemented a strategic plan to expand into retail fuel marketing by leveraging supply contracts with BP, Exxon, Citgo and Sunoco, and acquiring two portfolios from BP in the mid-1990s, including company-operated convenience stores and wholesale dealer accounts.
The company continued its path of growth in 2002 when it acquired 18 petroleum marketing and convenience store locations from ExxonMobil Corp.
The next Coyne generation of Colleen McGlinn, Erin Merrick, Sheila Romanek and Edward Coyne II all joined the business during the 1980s and 1990s, and still continue to manage Tri-State in various executive roles today.
In 2012, Tri-State entered into a new branded supply agreement with Marathon Petroleum Corp., rebranding the majority of its petroleum marketing assets, and has subsequently become one of the leading Marathon distributors and convenience retailers in its trade area.
“Deciding to work with Matrix was one of the best decisions we made when we decided to move forward with the sale of our business, said Tri-State CEO McGlinn. “Their expertise, experience, professionalism, and industry knowledge were invaluable to us throughout a very complex process. They provided thoughtful advice as we made some of the most difficult decisions of our life.”
Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Tri-State, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction.