Quarles Petroleum has closed on the sale of its fleet fueling and dealer supply businesses to GPM Investments.The assets sold to GPM include over 120 Quarles-branded cardlocks, over 60 private cardlock sites, the company’s fleet card assets and nearly 50 consignment and wholesale dealer accounts.
Quarles was founded in 1940 by Douglas Quarles Sr. and his son, Douglas Quarles Jr., by purchasing The Home Oil Co. in Warrenton, Va. Over the next 40 years, the company expanded into new regions in Virginia and acquired a storage terminal in Spotsylvania County, Va., providing a connection to the Plantation Pipeline.
In the 1980s, Quarles began opening cardlock fueling locations and convenience stores, and the company also entered the propane business. In the two decades that followed, Quarles opened a total of 31 Q-Stop convenience stores before selling them to 7-Eleven in 2010 to focus on the delivered fuels and fleet fueling businesses.
Under the leadership of the current management team, Quarles has grown significantly over the last 10 years through the continued development of its cardlock network and fleet fueling program, as well as several acquisitions of propane and refined products distribution companies including Whiting Oil Co., Northern Neck Oil Co., Northern Neck Gas, Revere Gas Co., Dixie Gas & Oil and the propane assets of PAPCO.
On June 1, 2022, Quarles sold its propane, heating oil and commercial fuels distribution business to Superior Plus Corp. At the time of the sale, Quarles was one of the largest propane and refined fuels distribution companies in the U.S. and served over 80,000 residential and commercial customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina through a network of over 30 bulk plants and one of the largest fleet fueling networks in the country. The closing of this transaction with GPM represents Quarles’ final exit from the petroleum marketing industry.
Matrix Capital Markets Group provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Quarles, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the transaction.
“The Matrix team was instrumental in leading the Quarles organization through the process of marketing the business, finding the best value for each line of business as well as guiding us through the complexity of a multiple buyer sale process,“ said Paul Giambra, CEO of Quarles.
