CEDAR CITY — KB Oil company officials announced this week they have entered into an agreement to sell the business and related assets to Parkland Fuel Corporation.
“We’ve been a family owned business for more than 40 years, and the professional business model and culture of Parkland appealed to us as we looked to sell,” Stacey Bettridge, co-president of KB Oil, said in a news release Wednesday.
“Our customers will benefit from the increased resources Parkland can provide, and this in turn will contribute to Parkland’s continued organic growth efforts,” said Rand Bettridge, co-president of KB Oil.
The Bettridge brothers have run the Cedar City-based family business since 2006, when they took it over from their parents, Ken and Georgia Bettridge, who founded Ken Bettridge Distributing in 1976 and operated it for 30 years. Ken Bettridge died in December and his wife died in January.
Read more: Remembering ‘KB’: Funeral for prominent Cedar City businessman Ken Bettridge slated for Friday
With nine convenience stores located throughout Southern Utah, along with a modern fleet of trucks, KB Oil currently has about 160 employees. The company specializes in the distribution of bulk fuels and lubricants in addition to fleet fueling and cardlock fueling services.
Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Parkland will acquire substantially all the assets, including real estate, used in the operation of KB Oil’s business. KB Oil will operate under Parkland USA, a division of Parkland comprising several wholly owned subsidiaries.
More specific terms of the proposed deal have not been disclosed.
“As we have not closed the acquisition yet, we have not released any financial data,” Parkland USA spokeswoman Laura Varn told Cedar City News. “We hope to close in the second quarter.”
Varn said KB Oil and KB Express customers are not likely to notice much difference.
“Customers won’t see any immediate changes,” she said. “The convenience stores will remain open, ready to serve customers with the same team members. That should be a seamless process with no impact to customers.
“The workforce will keep doing what they are doing, driving trucks, working at convenience stores, etc.”
According to company officials, Parkland is Canada’s and the Caribbean’s largest and one of America’s fastest growing independent suppliers and marketers of fuel and petroleum products. Parkland Fuel Corporation is based in Calgary, Canada, while Parkland USA’s Rockies Regional Operating Center is headquartered in American Fork, Utah.
“KB Oil has long been a respected and admired provider of bulk fuels and lubricants in the region. They are experts in the trucking industry,” John Jardine, vice president of Parkland USA and general manager of the Rockies Regional Operating Center, said in the news release.
“Parkland will be able to leverage its resources to better serve customers throughout Utah and Nevada.”
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