Newly Formed Liberty Propane Closes First Acquisition

OVERLAND PARK, KS -- Liberty Propane, LP has announced its first acquisition, Gasamat Propane, in Commerce City, Colorado. Liberty is a newly formed company created to acquire retail propane companies in selected regions of the United States. The formulation of the company is being jointly announced by Liberty Propane, LP, Jordan, Knauff & Company, a Chicago investment and merchant banking firm, and Sterling Capital Partners, a Northbrook, Illinois private equity firm. Liberty is funded by a $20 million initial capital commitment from Sterling Capital Partners. The funding occured concurrently with the closing of the Gasamat acquisition.

Gasamat delivers over 1.2 million gallons in an around Denver, serving both the industrial and residential markets. Liberty plans to retain all of Gasamat’s employees.

Industry veteran Kent Misemer is CEO of Liberty Propane, which is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. “It is tremendously exciting to launch our new company on the same day as our first acquisition,” Misemer said. “Gasamat Propane” is a great start. It has been well managed and has great growth prospects. We very much look forward to working with the new employees.”

Misemer said Liberty’s philosophy would be to maintain the highest possible operational standards and would strive to be the industry’s employer of choice. “We want Liberty Propane to be at the top of its class in all the regions in which we operate,” Misemer said. “To do that, we’ve got to have the best people possible, and we plan to have the kind of work environment that will make them want to stay with us.”

Tom Knauff, Managing Principal of Jordan, Knauff & Company, will serve as chairman of Liberty’s board of directors and will assist Mr. Misemer with acquisition, operational and financial matters. Jordan, Knauff & Company specializes in middle market investment banking transactions with a focus, among other things, in energy distribution.

Sterling Capital Partners focuses on buyout transactions, in which Sterling Partners has been active for the past 17 years. Operating successfully in a variety of economic and market environments, Sterling has completed over 35 acquisitions, including strategic add-ons. The principals of Sterling have extensive investment and operating experience. Over time, Sterling’s principals have developed a consistent, disciplined, repeatable process that yields outstanding results.

The information presented herein may contain certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. The Partnership’s actual future performance will be affected by a number of factors, risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, weather conditions, regulatory changes, competitive factors, and the operations of vendors, suppliers and customers, many of which are beyond the Partnership’s control. Future events and results may vary substantially from what the Partnership currently foresees, and there can be no assurance that the Partnership’s actual results will not differ materially from its expectations. The Partnership undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.