Situation
New West Oil Company, LLC (“New West” or the “Company”) was founded in Glendale, Arizona, by four former employees of Canyon State Oil Company: Tim Genrich (CEO), Ron Reeves (President), Tom Turley (VP Commercial Sales), and Terry Cooney (CFO).

The Company began as a Valvoline distributor and also developed and grew a strong proprietary brand, Ultra Lubricants. In 2013, the Company created New West Environmental, a division that collects used oil from customers and resells it as burner fuel to asphalt and concrete companies. The addition of New West Environmental allowed the Company to offer its lubricant customers a disposal solution for used oil, filters, and coolant, without the need for a separate vendor.

In 2016, New West expanded into Las Vegas with the Valvoline brand and in 2018 also became one of the largest Petro-Canada distributors in the United States.

Over the course of just nine years, New West grew from a one-brand start-up into a leading multi-brand lubricant, commercial fuel, and environmental service provider in the Southwest.

The owners contacted Matrix in order to understand the value of the business in a potential sale.

After presenting the most likely valuation range and recommended sale process with the owners, Matrix was retained to advise on a potential sale process. Ultimately, the Company decided to pursue a sale that allowed it to retain real estate control of its facilities through a subsequent lease to the buyer post-closing.

Objective
To customize, execute, and complete a confidential sale process that would allow New West’s shareholders to realize maximum after-tax value upon the sale of the Company.  In addition, the owners’ preference was to maintain real estate control of its facilities and secure favorable post-transaction employment agreements with an acquirer for the owners and other employees.

Solution
Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to New West, which included valuation advisory, marketing of the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction and leasing of the facilities.

Multiple competitive offers were received, and RelaDyne was ultimately selected as the acquirer.

Matrix assisted in the negotiation of the purchase agreement, coordinated the due diligence, structured proposed facility lease terms, and managed the closing process.

The transaction with RelaDyne closed in December 2020.