Hy-Miler Owners Sell C-stores, Exit Business

HURON, Ohio — More than 20 convenience stores in the Midwest are changing hands as merger and acquisition activity continues to ramp up through the convenience channel.

An affiliate of Dunne Manning Inc. is acquiring District Petroleum Products Inc. & Related Entities, the Huron-based parent company of 22 Hy-Miler convenience stores. It also and distributes and transports motor fuels to branded dealers and marinas throughout Ohio.

The deal marks District Petroleum exit from the business. The company was founded in 1951 by a group of Sandusky Ohio industrialists that needed fuel and lubricants for their factories, boats and airplanes. It eventually made the decision to contract with Shell Oil Co. for all of its petroleum needs. In the early years it operated as a small jobbership, distributing gasoline to a few dealer-operated locations, as well as selling fuel oil to home heat customers and lubricants to industrial accounts. 

With gasoline marketing beginning to change with the advent of self-serve gasoline and competitive street pricing, the Hy-Miler brand was born in 1976. Hy-Miler then became the name of the convenience store chain as new stores were added.

According to Bloomberg, Allentown, Pa.-based Dunne Manning is led by chairman and CEO Joe Topper, who previously served as CEO of CrossAmerica Partners LP. He left that position on Oct. 1.

Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition advisory services to District Petroleum, which included valuation advisory, marketing of the company through a customized, confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction.

The transaction was co-managed by Spencer Cavalier, managing director and Thomas Kelso, managing director and head of the downstream energy and retail team. Sean Dooley, vice president, and Christian Klawunder, associate, also advised on the transaction.

“This was a tough process; bittersweet. I could not imagine attempting to navigate these waters without the knowledge and support of Matrix and their team of professionals," said Scott Stipp, president of District Petroleum.

Russell Rosler, Frank Zonars, Kristin Watt and Theodore Smith of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, served as legal counsel for District Petroleum.