An Allentown fuel distributor has agreed to purchase a regional convenience store chain and its parent for $29 million, according to a federal regulatory agency filing.
Lehigh Gas Partners LP submitted a recent report to the Securities and Exchange Commission stating it has reached an agreement to buy Dunmore Oil Co. Inc. and JoJo Oil Co. Inc. The Dunmore-based fuel distribution company operates Joe's Kwik Marts, a chain of 23 convenience stores with locations in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties.
The transaction will include $28.5 million in cash and $500,000 directly to Joseph Gentile Jr., an owner of Dunmore Oil Co., along with payments for inventory when the sale closes, SEC documents state. No closing date was mentioned in the documents.
Repeated efforts to reach Mr. Gentile and Pete Waldron, Lehigh Gas's vice president for marketing and communications, were unsuccessful.
Lehigh Gas operates On the Run convenience store franchises and the company reported it owns or leases more than 400 gas stations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Kentucky. It also distributes fuel to hundreds of gas stations in the eight states where it operates.
Lehigh Gas went public in October, raising more than $128 million in two stock sales during its initial stock offering, regulatory documents show. The company's issues are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. At the time of the offering, Lehigh Gas said it planned to use the revenue to make acquisitions, repay debt and fund capital expenses.
SEC papers say the sale does not affect Dunmore Oil's heating oil, propane and unbranded motor fuels distribution business. Airline Petroleum, a sister company to Dunmore Oil, sells those products.
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com