Maxum Petroleum, wholly-owned subsidiary of SPI Petroleum LLC, recently acquired lubricants and fuel distributor Paulson Oil Co. in a stock purchase transaction valued at just under $20 million, according to Maxums Dec. 6 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Founded in 1956 by Robert and Peter Paulson, Paulson Oil Co. is headquartered in Chesterton, Ind., about 40 miles southeast of Chicago. It services Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. The company distributes a variety of lubricant brands – including Citgo, Shell, Pennzoil and Quaker State – to industrial and commercial customers.
The distributor complements the existing Chicago area fuel operations of Maxums Hartney Fuel Oil subsidiary, acquired in January 2006. Paulson competes in almost that same market, though a little further southeast, Mike McDonald, Maxum Petroleums senior vice president for mergers and acquisitions, told Lube Report. We thought Paulson was a nice complement to bring lubes in to balance the fuels-only perspective we had in the Chicago area. We could team up with another great management team, and expand into a more balanced offering for lubricants in the commercial and industrial area in the greater Chicago region.
McDonald said Maxum had known Paulson Oil through the industry for a long time. We have always been very impressed with them, he said. They went through a private equity transaction three years ago where they sold 70 percent of the business to a private equity firm. The companies kept in touch, and agreed to Maxums acquisition of Paulson earlier this month.
According to the SEC filing, Maxums acquisition involved purchasing the 70 percent in shares from the private equity firm Spell Capital Partners Fund II, L.P., along with the remaining 30 percent in shares retained by Paulsons founders.
My brother Pete and I believe joining an industry leader like Maxum provides our employees and management team with more resources to serve our customers and continue to grow the company far in the future, said Robert Paulson, president of Paulson Oil.
Old Greenwich, Conn.-based Maxum Petroleum markets and distributes refined petroleum products and services to commercial and industrial customers. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SPI Petroleum LLC, an acquisition vehicle formed in 2004 by three private equity firms, Northwest Capital Appreciation Inc., Waud Capital LLC and RBC Capital Partners (though Cadent Energy Partners) with the goal of consolidating the commercial lubricant and fuel distribution industry.
Including Paulson Oil, Maxum has completed 11 acquisitions of lubricant and fuel marketers and facilities to date, including Simons Petroleum, Trevco, Hartney, Pecos (including its General Petroleum and Rainier Petroleum subsidiaries), Canyon State Oil, Petroleum Products and Farmington Oil.