Meritum Energy Acquires Pico Petroleum in Texas

“Pico Petroleum is an outstanding platform for us to build from,” said Chris Hill, president and CEO of Meritum Energy Holdings. “They have a great group of employees and have developed an excellent reputation for delivering the highest level of service and safety to their customers, and we look forward to building upon that.” Pico Petroleum was a wholly owned subsidiary of Westex Capital Ltd., a Del Rio, Texas-based company. The company, in business for 29 years, has bulk plants in Boerne, Carrizo Springs, Uvalde, Del Rio, Pearsall, Floreville, and Kenedy, Texas, from which it serves customers in more than 35 South Texas counties.

Meritum Energy will continue with the Pico brand and will operate the business under the name Pico Propane and Fuels. As Meritum grows its operations, it will expand Pico Propane and Fuels into new markets and broaden its service offerings in the propane and fuel distribution business. “We look forward to drawing from our experience and relationships in the industry to expand upon what Pico currently offers,” said Bob Chalmers, CFO and executive vice president of business development at Meritum. “Building a business development and sales team to support and grow the already quality operations of Pico is an exciting proposition for us.”

In other news, Meritum has finished raising equity and has closed the agreement founding its limited partnership, established to acquire, own, and operate propane, NGL, and distribution-related assets and operations throughout the southern U.S. Meritum Energy was formed this year by Hill and Chalmers, executives with substantial experience and expertise in the propane, fuel distribution, and NGL industries. The new company has also closed on a credit facility led by Bank SNB’s San Antonio commercial team, which includes the Bank of San Antonio as a participant bank. The credit facility was structured to allow for the Pico Petroleum acquisition and for significant additional future growth capacity.