Ozark Gas & Appliance Co. has been sold to Titan Propane LLC, a division of Montana-based Heritage Propane.
Owner George Bush sold the 65-year-old Springfield-based company, 536 N. Fremont Ave., to Titan for an undisclosed amount in a transaction that closed Oct. 1, said Titan Regional Vice President Michael T. Jinks.
Bush said his father, also named George, started Ozark Gas as a propane gas distributor and added Amana heating and air conditioning services about 30 years ago to boost business in slower summer months. When the elder Bush died a couple of years ago, his 63-year-old son took over the company before deciding to retire earlier this year.
Starting in May, Bush began soliciting competitors about acquiring Ozark Gas and, by July, he had accepted Titan's offer - one of several on the table.
"I looked for somebody that would treat our customers well and our employees well and was very professional," Bush said, noting that the new owner retained all 13 employees at the Fremont location. "They needed to expand, and we pretty much doubled their size."
Jinks said Ozark Gas fits perfectly into Titan's tri-state coverage area and will serve as the Springfield hub for 30 satellite outlets in the surrounding area, including those in Joplin, Branson and Lebanon. He said Titan has 17 primary stores in southwest Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
With the acquisition of Ozark Gas, Titan now has 165 employees in the tri-state area and close to 5,000 customers - mainly residential - in Springfield and surrounding rural areas, Jinks said.
"They brought a lot to the table," he added. "It was a good mutual acquisition. ... Actually, this is now our largest store."
Aside from the promotion of one employee to a full-time sales position, very little has changed now that Ozark Gas is under new ownership with Titan, according to Bush and Jinks.
"We had a lot of loyal customers that we took care of for years and years and years, and I intend for that to continue," Bush said. "The only change is that I'm not there."
Jinks said Titan would continue to market propane as a reliable and cost-effective alternative to electric power that burns hotter. During ice storms in 2007 and earlier this year, many Ozarks residents familiarized themselves with the virtues of propane, a commodity that has seen its price decline in recent weeks.
As of Nov. 10, the average price of residential propane in Missouri was about $2.13 per gallon, down from a peak of about $2.30 per gallon in late March, according to the Energy Information Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy. The wholesale price was just 93 cents a gallon, according to the EIA.
"Propane prices are coming down," Jinks said, noting that Titan allows customers to lock in fixed yearly rates each spring.
The busiest season for propane distributors runs from November through May, said Bush, who hopes to travel more now that he's retired.
Heritage Propane is the propane-operating subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP), a publicly traded master limited partnership. According to its Web site, www.heritagepropane.com, the company distributes propane through a nationwide retail distribution network that serves more than 700,000 customers through nearly 450 locations in 34 states. Heritage acquired Titan Propane in 2006.
Jinks said Ozark Gas will retain its name through the spring, at which time Titan officials will re-evaluate the brand.
