American lubricant distributor RelaDyne has expanded its yearslong buying spree beyond its home borders, announcing March 8 that it acquired Grupo Lucalza, which carries lubes and fuels in several Latin American countries.
The lubricant distribution market in the United States has undergone a great deal of consolidation the past two decades, but few of the acquisitions and mergers have crossed the nation’s borders.
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The companies did not disclose the price of the transaction but said it makes RelaDyne the world’s largest distributor of Chevron finished lubes.
Grupo Lucalza is headquartered in Amatitlan, Guatemala, and has expanded from there to Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic and most recently to Mexico, where it operates as Imporfil, a distributing lubricants, greases, antifreeze, and filters to a diverse set of industries in 12 states. In Guatemala it has a subsidiary named Texpetrol that distributes bulk fuels for aviation, retail and industrial sectors.
RelaDyne is headquartered in Cincinnati and is one of several U.S. lube distributors that grew by merging with numerous other distributorships. It claims to now be the largest such company in the country.
Officials said the merger gives RelaDyne greater scale that should improve profitability.