Red Rover Stores Trade to Par Mar Oil in Two-Part Deal

WOOSTER, Ohio — Santmyer Companies Inc. divested itself of both its Red Rover convenience stores and branded dealer wholesale business, selling the entities to Par Mar Oil Co. and Countywide Petroleum Co., respectively. 

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Founded in 1952 when Myron Santmyer opened a Gulf service station in Dalton, Ohio, Santmyer is a privately-owned and family-operated full-service distributor whose primary offerings include diesel, gasoline, propane, lubricants, diesel exhaust fluid and logistics services. Myron's son Terry Santmyer acquired the business from his father in 1980, at which time the company was comprised of just two tank wagons and four employees. The company subsequently expanded into a full-service petroleum with more than 175 employees. 

Santmyer purchased a Marathon jobbership in 1999, and in 2012, Terry's son Zach Santmyer took over as company president. Under Zach's leadership, Santmyer expanded into propane, developed the Red Rover brand, became a Chevron-branded lubricants distributor, and added the Sunoco and Exxon brands to offer customers a more comprehensive slate of fuels. 

In 2021, Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. was engaged to perform a strategic review of Santmyer to assess capital allocation and the return on investment between business segments.  With that analysis, the company decided to divest its convenience retail and branded wholesale businesses, and instead focus on the distribution of propane, commercial fuels and lubricants, purchasing the commercial fuels and propane assets of Cole Distributing to that end.

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For the sale, Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Santmyer, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the sale. 

"We are committed to evolving and growing our company based on our core competencies," said Zach Santmyer. "This transaction puts Santmyer in a great position to pursue future growth opportunities that align with these [distribution] segments going forward. The Matrix team ran a very structured process that yielded an outstanding result, and I would like to thank them for the expertise and dedication they provided throughout this transaction."

Christopher Pycraft and Easton Saltsman of Critchfield, Critchfield & Johnston served as legal counsel for Santmyer.