Ferrellgas to buy Dallas energy company for $837.5 million

Propane retailer Ferrellgas Partners LP on Monday announced an agreement to buy Bridger Logistics LLC of Dallas for about $837.5 million, as it seeks to expand in the crude oil business.

Overland Park-based Ferrellgas, known for its Blue Rhino portable propane tanks, said Bridger’s owners will receive $562.5 million in cash along with 11.2 million of its common units, the partnership equivalent of shares of stock.

The transaction is expected to be completed by July 1. Bridger, which would operate as an independent unit of Ferrellgas, has about 280 employees.

Bridger, founded in 2010, hauls crude oil from the wellhead to refineries and other end users through a network of terminals, trucks, pipelines, railroads and barges. The company operates in 14 states, placing it in virtually all major U.S. crude oil production regions such as the Permian, Bakken, the Gulf Coast, Eagle Ford and the Rockies.

Bridger was named Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing energy company in 2013.

Ferrellgas said the move will allow it to ssubstantially expand its “midstream” oil business, which it launched in May 2014 when it acquired Sable Environmental.

“This is a landmark transaction for Ferrellgas and represents a key milestone in our diversification efforts,” Todd Soiefer, the company’s senior vice president of strategic development, said in a statement.

Ferrellgas is the nation’s second-largest propane retailer and the largest provider of propane in terms of portable tank exchanges.

Related to the transaction, Ferrellgas said its board approved a $0.0125 increase in its quarterly distribution rate to $0.5125 per common unit.

This story was originally published June 1, 2015 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Ferrellgas to buy Dallas energy company for $837.5 million."