Eggens Direct Service, Inc. distributes wholesale and retail gasoline, diesel fuel, home-heating fuels, and lubricant oils marketed under a major brand as well as their own private brand. The Company also operates one convenience store. They transport and sell wholesale gasoline and diesel fuel directly to dealers, gasoline and diesel fuel through consignment agreements. They supply 32 gas stations and convenience stores with its private brand fuel and oil lubricants and 10 stores with the nationally-recognized brand in central Minnesota.

Molo Oil Companies is a wholesale petroleum and convenience store operator in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. They were looking to expand their operation into Minnesota. Eggens signed an engagement agreement in July 2008 and the marketing campaign started immediately. We mailed over 250 profiles and followed that up with a telemarketing campaign with e-mails to the potential buyers list. Over 50 of those e-mails were answered with not interested because it was not a strategic fit or the company was not in their operating area. We sent out 12 Offering Memorandums and received 3 Letters of Intent and 1 verbal offer.

We received all four offers by the end of October 2008 and negotiated the price and terms with the potential buyers in the month of November. We found out during the negotiation that the highest price could be gained by not selling the home heating oil business. The asset base of that business could not support the small EBIT and the liability of the storage tanks was a large hurdle to overcome. The seller felt more comfortable with one of the buyers even though we had a higher offer from one of the other three buyers. We had the preferred buyer match the best deal and closed on December 29, 2008.