NEW MILFORD, Conn. – November 9, 2023 – Cetane Associates (“Cetane”) is pleased to announce that Atlantic Pratt Oil Co., Inc. (“Atlantic-Pratt Energy”), a Massachusetts corporation, has acquired certain tangible and intangible assets related to the distillates delivery and service business of Melia Fuels Ltd. (“Melia Fuel”), also a Massachusetts corporation. The transaction was completed on October 25, 2023.

The family business of Melia Fuel was established by Gerry and Ann Melia in 1982, with Gerry making oil and fuel deliveries while Ann managed the phones. Their son Patrick (now the company president) first began working in the business making deliveries during winter breaks from college. By 1992, Patrick left his corporate job to purchase the family business and drive growth through introducing full-service options and acquiring a local oil business. Today Melia Fuel serves residential and light commercial customers throughout the Massachusetts South Shore region. President Patrick Melia comments, “For years we’ve known the good people at Atlantic-Pratt Energy and are happy now to be joining forces to add value to their customers, who are also our neighbors. I am thrilled for this successful transaction and thank the Cetane team for their experienced and exceptional guidance.”

For over four generations, the Nogueira family has owned and operated Atlantic-Pratt Energy—2023 marks the company’s milestone 100-year anniversary. The family and its dedicated team is proud to serve homes throughout the region from Boston to Plymouth, Mass. Jacob Ian Nogueira, President of Atlantic-Pratt Energy, states, “Our commitment to service has continued for a century. We’re excited to bring Melia Fuel on board and welcome them to our team of home heating experts. This is a great fit for our business as it moves into its second century.”

Jeff Brunner, Director at Cetane Associates, said, “Congratulations to the Melia family. It was my pleasure to work with Patrick and to assist in taking this long-held goal across the finish line. I wish him and his family all the best in their next chapter.”
Cetane served as the sole arranger to Melia Fuel. Cetane advised on the sale, including an initial valuation opinion, marketing the business through a confidential process, assisting in negotiating the final deal terms, and coordinating the due diligence process. Team members Jeff Brunner, Fred Lord, Dalton Brooks, and Ford DuBose managed the transaction.

NEW MILFORD, Conn. – November 7, 2023 – Cetane Associates is pleased to announce that Pamela (“Pam”) Giordano has transitioned from part-time consultant to full-time Director at its financial advisory firm, effective November 6, 2023. Serving as a valuation consultant for Cetane since 2021, Pam’s in-depth experience in valuations and delivered fuels operations has contributed to the continual growth of Cetane Associates.

Before joining Cetane Associates full-time, most recently Pam served as General Manager of Lake Region Energy in Maine. Prior to her time at Lake Region Energy, Pam was Director of Operations for M. L. Halle (Townsend Energy) where she served for 15 years. Pam’s industry involvement supported various organizations and has been recognized at state and national levels. For many years Pam was involved with Energy Marketers Association of New Hampshire (EMANH) and became its first female Chair in 2016. She also served as the secretary of NEFI (National Energy & Fuels Institute) for three years and as well as a member of its Executive Committee. Today she is Vice President of Women in Energy. Her honors include being named Member of the Year by EMANH in 2019, and in 2021, Pam was named a NEFI Legend.

Pam holds a Bachelor’s degree from Franklin Pierce University. She lives in Maine with her brand-new puppy Beatrice.

Barrett Conway, Managing Director and Principal of Cetane comments “We are excited to have Pam join our team full-time as Director. Her unique experience in working as GM of a successful fuel delivery business adds value to our sellers who are making strategic decisions. Her previous experience in valuation analysis with our firm gives her critical familiarity with our systems and our team members.”

Really! That’s What You Remember? —

I am routinely amazed about random impactful statements that get remembered. I have given talks many times in my career with plenty of great and useful information. This includes too many PowerPoint conversations with countless slides of bullet-pointed information. People will see me years later and what they remember is good for me to hear.

My unscientific list of what gets remembered most includes (In random order):

• • Real life stories I told to illustrate a point
  • Statements that compliment or offend the listener
  • “By the Way” comments I made privately
  • Short talks rank far ahead of long ones
  • Responses to challenging audience questions

I will elaborate on each of these.

Real Life Stories
A well-told story needs to be the appropriate length with appropriate detail—not too long and with interesting details. A little self-depreciation and vulnerability are typically helpful for your audience to relate. Tying it together with your point brings it home.

Compliment or Offend
People remember how they feel and will often only remember a well-placed specific compliment or worse, an insult. Standard compliments don’t count and are gratuitous. A great funny example is my 64-year-old female neighbor was recently in a car accident near where we live. Her car was totaled – she admitted 100% fault. As the EMT’s made sure she was OK (she was), one of them commented to his peer how good she looked at age 64. It seems like this was pretty much all she remembered from the entire event. We remember comments that make us feel good or bad about ourselves.

“By The Way” comments
I have had many business lunches; they all have an agenda that I make sure gets covered. I have found that covering my topics early allows for longer and more detailed answers. This allows me to better understand what I need to do next. My direct approach often fails to work well because many people would prefer to avoid the more challenging issues at hand.

I have had cases where the other party disclosed important information while walking them out to their car after lunch – this is a less confrontational environment and statements are made in a more casual and private manner.

Short talks vs. Long talks
We often say that “less is more.” More can be 45 flavors of ice cream or a brewery with 30 types of draft beer. Most of us can’t process that much information and we need fewer options to make an easy decision. Long talks dilute the value of a few very important points. Less points with a story to illustrate is far more effective.
I will ask myself – what are my take-aways from attending a talk – “Less” makes this question much simpler to answer.

Challenging Questions
Many of us like to play “gotcha” as a way to show how smart we are. These types of questions allow for a speaker to better enforce their point and cover a topic that other people in the room probably have. It’s also often more interesting to listen to a dialog back and forth.

Using this short blog as an example, I can guess you may remember most what the EMT said.

Bob Williamson, Pest & Lawn Director
October 2023

PCO in the Know | Blog #4

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are, as the Declaration of Independence states, certain unalienable rights. The business world, and the delivered fuels industry (heating oil and propane) in particular, has enabled many people to pursue their dreams and create happiness for their families, employees and customers.

The fuel industry has some great history. In 1933 Leon Hess, age 19, formed Hess Incorporated (NYSE: HES). He purchased a 1926 second-hand 615-gallon oil delivery truck and began delivering to homeowners. Also in 1933, Abraham Slifka opened Slifky’s Reliable Oil Burner Service, delivering heating oil and burner service in the Boston area. Abraham’s two sons Fred and Richie, and then their sons, continued to grow the business now known as Global Partners LP (NYSE: GLP). The third-generation grandson of Abraham, Eric Slifka, is the current CEO.

Our company is one of the top ten national M&A advisory firms as reported by Financial Services Review in 2022. Our main focus is the delivered fuels industry where we have completed hundreds of transactions. We help entrepreneurs looking to exit their businesses and realize their dreams by selling their companies. It is a very gratifying career to help owners and shareholders transition their businesses. Finding the right buyer to continue their legacy, provide long-term employment for their staff, and helping to accomplish their financial goals is our mission.

There are always obstacles in working through a transaction process including providing accurate financial information, alleviating environmental concerns, negotiating indemnifications, and working through the legal process. These and other details of a transaction are challenging; however, we always worked through these obstacles, that is until we ran into a governmental road block recently.

Our clients started a heating oil and propane business over twenty years ago. Like Leon Hess and Abraham Slifka, they started with a truck and a strong work ethic. Like many successful people we encounter in the industry, they gave back. They gave back to their community, their employees and even their customers. They helped less fortunate people in their community and quickly gained a reputation as a reputable full-service provider of heating oil, propane and heating services. They did not grow their company as large as Leon or Abraham, but they grew it large enough to be able to sell it and retire comfortably, or so they thought.

As we worked with them through the process, all was going well until documents were filed with their State Attorney General’s office. That is when their American Dream started to get crushed. The AG’s office stated that there was not enough competition in the area and they could not sell to the larger companies in the area as it could lead to lack of competition and higher consumer prices. The AG’s office presented the buyer with a list of items that if they complied with, they would allow the transaction. The buyer was gracious, and in our opinion, went above and beyond to comply with all but one provision. The AG’s office wanted to impose price controls, not only on the new customers, but on all the buyer’s existing customers. As you might expect, that was one request the purchaser declined.

We met with the AG’s office and explained that six companies were serving the area and that there were little to no barriers to entry into the industry for other companies to startup. As a good friend once told me, all you need is a truck and knuckles to get into this industry. Knuckles knocking on doors was his form of marketing.

The AG’s office did not agree that there were almost no barriers to entry and told our client that if their only other choice was to go out of business and close the doors, then maybe they would consider approving the transaction. They requested a written plan stating that the company would cease doing business. The crushing of the dream continued.

After seeking legal advice, it became evident that it would be extremely expensive and drag on for an unnecessarily long period to fight the battle in court. Ultimately the AG’s office would not approve the sale and our clients were forced to stay in business for now. Their other option is to close their doors and liquidate their assets. In the end, the customers will likely end up with the same companies that the AG’s office said they could not sell to.

As a politician once told me “I feel very strongly both ways”. I understand government controls to protect against anti-competition; however it seems obvious to me that competition, in this case, will continue and who knows, maybe another Leon or Abraham is out there looking to buy a truck and knock on doors and achieve the American Dream.

 

Steve Abbate

Managing Director, Cetane Associates

May 2023

 

First published in Fuel Oil News, June 2023 issue

NEW MILFORD, Conn. – October 16, 2023 – Cetane Associates is pleased to announce that Griffin Sharp has joined its financial advisory firm as Director, effective October 16, 2023. Griffin has more than 13 years of experience in valuation, contract analysis, negotiation, and acquisitions. During his career, he has held senior-level positions in business development and transactions across multiple industries.

Prior to joining Cetane Associates, Griffin served as Director of Corporate Development at Dead River Company, where he was a leader in the sourcing, valuation, closing, and integration of acquisitions. During his time at the company, Dead River closed 17 transactions, significantly expanding the company’s scale and territorial footprint. He also previously served as Director of Strategic Growth at Zomedica Corp., where he led the negotiation and closing of multiple deals in the animal health sector. Griffin has been active in fuel industry trade associations and has been invited to speak to industry leaders and law students on the subject of acquisitions.

Griffin holds BA degrees in Economics and International Relations from Michigan State University and earned a master’s degree in Financial Economics from the University of Detroit Mercy. He and his wife Stephanie reside in South Portland, Maine, where he enjoys disc golf, bowling, and volunteering with the local Red Cross chapter.

Barrett Conway, Managing Director and Principal of Cetane commented “We are excited to have Griffin join our team. His deep experience in working with owners from initial contact through post-closing integration will add to Cetane’s strength in helping sellers through the transaction process. Strategically, Griffin’s wealth of experience in the M&A arena will enhance our value to clients across the country.”