25 deals that changed the propane industry

Mergers and acquisitions over the past 25 years have changed the look and feel of the retail propane industry.

In fact, only three of the top 10 companies from the 1999 and 2000 LP Gas Top Retailers issues remain today: the majors AmeriGas, Ferrellgas and Suburban Propane.

The three national companies, the largest retailers in the United States, respectively, eventually would acquire nearly all the other companies in the top 10 during that period.

AmeriGas acquired All Star Gas Corp., Columbia Propane, Heritage Propane and Level Propane, which had changed its name to Horizon. Ferrellgas acquired Thermogas. Suburban acquired Agway.

These deals were only part of the acquisitions that helped to shape the industry of today. And as the years progressed, a new group of companies emerged to become regular, active players, further changing the complexion of the market.

With input from leaders in the M&A space, LP Gas has created a chronological list of the 25 most impactful deals of the past 25 years. Let’s look back.

---

1999

Ferrellgas acquires Thermogas

It was called a blockbuster at the time. “Ferrellgas is the new king of the hill, unseating AmeriGas for bragging rights as America’s largest,” former LP Gas Editor Pat Hyland wrote in the January 2000 issue. Ferrellgas added 300 million annual gallons in retail sales to its 660 million gallons by acquiring Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Thermogas, the nation’s fifth-largest retailer in 1998, from Williams for a reported $432.5 million.

---

2003

Suburban Propane acquires Agway Energy

Suburban moved from the fourth-largest retailer to third after acquiring the assets of Agway out of bankruptcy court for $206 million. Agway, based in Syracuse, New York, was the sixth-largest propane retailer. “This was significant in seeing a pure propane company like Suburban be willing to purchase a company that did home heating oil as well as other fuel distillates,” says John Armentano of Blue Peak Resources.

Heritage Propane merges with Energy Transfer

Heritage was active in the retail market in 2003, but adding Energy Transfer’s natural gas midstream operations was especially noteworthy. The $980 million deal combined the operational strengths of Heritage’s propane business with Energy Transfer’s more diversified base of natural gas gathering, treating, processing and transportation assets, Heritage President and CEO Michael Krimbill said at the time. A year later, Heritage would change its name to Energy Transfer Partners to reflect the merger.

---

2004

Ferrellgas acquires Blue Rhino

Citing the increased costs of meeting government regulations, Blue Rhino Corp. sold its cylinder exchange business to Ferrellgas in a deal estimated at $340 million. Blue Rhino had become the nation’s largest operator of propane tank exchange services – a segment of the retail propane industry that drew Ferrellgas Chairman Jim Ferrell’s attention. “This expansion complemented our company’s already-robust propane heating business by bolstering our delivery of propane during the warmer months,” says Richard Mayberry, vice president of business development at Ferrellgas. “Blue Rhino has continued to grow over the years, and today it is sold at more than 60,000 locations nationwide.”

Inergy acquires Star Gas Propane

Inergy’s acquisition of Star Gas Propane, the propane operating partnership of Star Gas Partners, for $475 million created the fifth-largest retail propane operator, boasting 600,000 customers in 26 states. Star Gas Partners was the largest heating oil supplier and seventh-largest propane retailer in the nation at the time, but it had faced financial challenges. The deal gave Inergy a chance to expand in its core Great Lakes market area and establish a new footprint in the Northeast. “Star Gas pulled back and reset expectations,” says Tamera Kovacs of Cetane Associates. “Once their noncompete had expired, they started expanding into the propane market again through acquisitions.”

---

2006

Energy Transfer (Heritage Propane) acquires Titan Propane

Energy Transfer strengthened its retail propane operations by adding Titan Propane to its Heritage Propane operations for more than $600 million. Titan had 146 retail locations across 33 states. In 2005, it sold more than 200 million gallons of propane to more than 325,000 customers. The acquisition of Titan also added the Coast, Synergy, Empire and Economy trade names to Energy Transfer’s propane business. Titan was originally known as Cornerstone Propane.

---

2009

Inergy acquires Liberty Propane

For $234 million, Inergy acquired a company that grew to become the ninth-largest propane retailer in the United States. Jordan Knauff & Co., including LP Gas Hall of Famer Tom Knauff, founded Liberty in 2003. Knauff called the deal with Inergy “a successful exit transaction that was commensurate with our original business plan.” Adds Kovacs of Cetane, “Inergy grew through acquisition. They made a couple of large acquisitions with Star Gas and Liberty Propane, then several years later sold to Suburban, giving Suburban a huge boost as well. Acquisitions are cyclical.”

---

2010

NGL Energy Partners forms from merger

NGL Energy Partners, originally known as Silverthorne Energy Partners, formed from a merger between Illinois propane retailer Hicksgas and Tulsa midstream and wholesale company NGL Supply. Hicksgas provided a strong retail component with 35 million annual gallons. NGL Supply added a strong midstream and wholesale infrastructure supply side to the business. NGL Energy Partners would become the propane industry’s fifth major public company and the eighth-largest retailer with more than 100 million gallons.

---

2011

AmeriGas acquires Heritage Propane

One of the most impactful deals of this time frame, AmeriGas acquired Heritage for about $2.9 billion. It added more than 1 million retail propane customers and more than 500 million gallons to AmeriGas’ nationwide propane distribution operations, which already included 1.3 million retail customers and more than 893 million gallons of annual propane sales. Daniel Dixon of EDP and formerly of AmeriGas called it “transformational with significant blending opportunities” between the companies. Armentano of Blue Peak says it was notable because it combined companies with opposite cultures. “Heritage was a very decentralized business, while AmeriGas runs a centralized business,” he says.

---

2012

Suburban Propane acquires Inergy’s retail propane operations

Suburban followed the AmeriGas/Heritage deal with a splash of its own, acquiring Inergy Propane for about $1.8 billion. The deal added 600,000 propane customers and 325 million retail propane gallons to Suburban’s existing 600,000 propane customers and nearly 300 million retail propane gallons sold. It moved Suburban from fifth to the third-largest propane retailer in the United States. “Both [deals] happened within a few months of each other,” recalls Chris DeFilippo of Superior Plus Propane. “At the time, it might have seemed to signal the big getting bigger, although it didn’t necessarily shake out that way.” Inergy reorganized to become a pure play midstream business.

EDP forms through private funding

Knauff, who co-founded Propane Continental and Liberty Propane, launched Chicago-based EDP with the goal of growing through retail propane and midstream mergers and acquisitions. Among its first acquisitions were Linden’s Propane and Ludwig Propane, both in Ohio, and Expo Propane in Los Angeles. Knauff told LP Gas that his team financed EDP privately so it could operate for the long term.

---

2014

Ferrellgas acquires Sable Environmental

This marked Ferrellgas’ first non-propane-related acquisition as it once sought to establish a midstream division. Sable, which Ferrellgas acquired for about $125 million, provided saltwater disposal services throughout the Eagle Ford shale.

---

2015

Redwood Capital acquires ThompsonGas

Redwood’s acquisition of large regional retailer ThompsonGas reportedly marked its first transaction in the energy services and equipment sector. Redwood Capital is the Maryland-based private investment company for Jim Davis, co-founder of Allegis Group. “With Redwood Capital Investments’ entry into the industry, they introduced family money,” Kovacs says. “My understanding is it is their objective to hold the investments long term. It’s providing another acquisition model focused on longevity.” Armentano adds, “This fueled tremendous growth and brought another aggressive company to pursue acquisitions.”

Ferrellgas acquires Bridger Logistics

Ferrellgas looked to grow its new midstream division with an $837 million acquisition of Bridger Logistics, a Dallas-based company that provided crude oil and midstream services. Several years later, however, Ferrellgas divested its Bridger business lines and exited the midstream segment to focus on its core retail propane distribution and Blue Rhino tank exchange operations.

---

2016

Bantam Supply Co. and Wesson Energy merge

The merger created BantamWesson, which provided propane, bio-heating fuels and other home services to customers in Connecticut. Marty Kirshner of Gray, Gray & Gray called the deal a “first of its kind.” He adds, “It was a joint venture of two family businesses where the owners didn’t have direct succession plans within their own families but wanted to keep the value and ownership in the family. Its goal is to merge in other companies that don’t have a succession plan but that want to keep the value of something in their family.” BantamWesson has since changed its name to Valiant Energy Solutions.

---

2017

SHV Energy acquires Pinnacle Propane

SHV, a Netherlands-based LP gas distributor that operated in 20 countries at the time, entered the U.S. market by purchasing Pinnacle from American Midstream Partners. The $170 million transaction included Pinnacle’s 40 services stations, its cylinder exchange business and the Alliant Gas utility system. SHV said it was drawn to Pinnacle’s strong position in the bulk and network business in the Southwest and the national cylinder exchange network.

DCC acquires portion of NGL Energy Partners’ propane business

“DCC brought a whole new player to the continent,” says Chad Pendill of Legacy Energy Consulting. Only about four months after SHV’s deal, DCC LPG, a division of Ireland-based DCC plc, acquired NGL’s operations across 10 states in the mid-continent and western portions of the United States for $200 million. The deal included NGL’s flagship Hicksgas propane business in Illinois and Indiana, along with Pacer Propane, Propane Central and a number of smaller, local brands.

---

2018

Superior Plus acquires NGL Energy Partners’ remaining propane locations

NGL decided to exit the retail propane business completely, selling its remaining propane locations to Superior Plus Corp. for $900 million. NGL serviced 22 states in the Northeast, Southeast and Upper Midwest with 151 locations. With about 180 million annual gallons in sales, NGL had grown to become the sixth-largest propane retailer in the United States. It planned to focus on crude logistics and water solutions. “While Superior was already in the U.S. market, this propelled the Canadian company to aggressively go on a strong buying streak,” Armentano says.

---

2019

UGI acquires remaining portion of AmeriGas

UGI Corp. consolidated its ownership of AmeriGas, acquiring the 69.2 million publicly held common units it didn’t already own (about 75 percent). The companies said the deal would help drive efficiencies and growth. It also allowed AmeriGas to exit a complex master limited partnership structure and become a wholly owned subsidiary of UGI.

---

2020

EDP acquires Campora Propane

EDP continued to grow by acquiring its largest propane marketer since its inception in 2012. Campora’s 10 retail locations provided propane to nearly 35,000 residential, commercial and agricultural customers across central and northern California, in addition to Nevada. EDP moved into the top 10 of LP Gas’ retailer rankings.

---

2021

DCC acquires United Propane Gas

DCC made its largest acquisition since entering the U.S. market in 2018. The deal with the Kentucky company expanded DCC’s geographic presence from 14 to 21 states and almost doubled its customer base to more than 230,000. It also created the sixth-largest propane retailer in the United States. Combined with a smaller bolt-on acquisition in Colorado, the enterprise value of the transactions was $145 million.

Superior Plus acquires Freeman Gas

Superior Plus strengthened its footprint in the Southeast with a $170 million acquisition of the South Carolina company, its fourth deal in 2021. Superior Plus said it planned to double its U.S. propane distribution EBITDA in the next five years.

Redwood Capital acquires Dead River Co.

Like its deal with ThompsonGas, Redwood Capital acquired another established propane marketer, this time 112-year-old Dead River Co. of South Portland, Maine. The company also sells heating oil and kerosene. The deal continued Redwood’s interest in the industry as it had bought or invested in more than a dozen propane and fuel companies in the previous six years, the Bangor Daily News reported.

---

2022

Superior Plus acquires Kamps Propane

Superior Plus made another big splash by completing its acquisition of Kamps Propane for $240 million and expanding its footprint and scale into a new customer base in California. The deal also included wholesale propane supplier Kiva Energy.

---

2025

Star Group acquires Allen’s Oil & Propane

Connecticut-based Star Group may be the largest retail provider of home heating oil in the United States, but its recent acquisitions, including Allen’s in New Jersey, reveal the company is also serious about propane. “They have started to lean into propane as a big focus point. They’ve done quite a few propane or propane-heavy [acquisitions] over the last three years,” says Barrett Conway of Cetane Associates. “I’ve seen Star Group come in, and they are starting to be a lead player in the propane space as well.”

---

See a full list of mergers and acquisitions from 2024-25 so far.