Lehigh Gas Makes Second Tennessee Acquisition This Month

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Lehigh Gas Partners LP is adding to its portfolio through the acquisition of 17 Rogers Petroleum gas stations in Tennessee.

According to a report by The Morning Call, Lehigh Gas agreed to purchase 14 company-owned stations and three leased stations, as well as equipment and other assets for $21 million. Thirteen of the sites carry the Zoomerz brand, while the other four are Exxon branded.

The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter. All of the sites are located in eastern Tennessee, around the Tri-CIties region of Kingsport, Johnson City and Bristol and along Interstate 81.

This marks Lehigh Gas' second acquisition in less than a month following its agreement to purchase the Tennessee assets of Rocky Top Markets LLC and Rocky Top Properties LLC, as CSNews Online previously reported.

"We are excited to acquire the Rogers portfolio. [These] are high-quality assets and highly complementary to the Rocky Top acquisition that we announced last week," Lehigh Gas Chairman and CEO Joe Topper stated. "Together, these two portfolios provide us scale in the region and a solid platform to further expand."

The Allentown, Pa.-based gas station operator and fuel supplier has added 120 locations since it completed an initial public offering in October. It currently owns, operates and supplies more than 550 locations in 10 states.

Lehigh Gas this week also reported $5.5 million in second-quarter profit and said it distributed 160.7 million gallons of fuel during the same period, generating a gross profit of $12 million from fuel sales. This is up from 154 million gallons and $10.7 million in gross profit during the year-ago period. During the first quarter, Lehigh reported a profit of $3.8 million on revenues of $471.4 milllion.

"The partnership posted strong second-quarter results," Topper said. "We continue to execute our core strategy, as evident by our financial results and our recent announcement of two asset acquisitions."