MINNEAPOLIS August 27, 2019  –  Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A., played a vital role to Schmuckal Oil Company in the recent sale of its convenience retailing and wholesale fuel assets to True North Energy LLC. As legal counsel for Schmuckal Oil, the team led by Winthrop & Weinstine attorney Tammera R. Diehm guided the company on the sale of its 25 company-operated convenience retailing and petroleum marketing assets. The transaction also included Schmuckal’s small wholesale fuel and transportation business.

True North Energy LLC, a Brecksville, Ohio-based joint venture between the Lyden family and Shell Oil Co., now offers fuel and convenience items at 135 company operated stores, in addition to supplying fuel to approximately 200 Shell branded dealers. The company has an ever-growing foot print with stores primarily located in the Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, Youngstown, Detroit and now the Traverse City market. Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc., of Richmond, Virginia, provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Schmuckal Oil.

“We are honored to have had the opportunity to work with Schmuckal Oil during this important transition.  Transactions such as this one are complex and challenging, and we value our role as counselors and advisors to the Company and the family in the process” said Winthrop & Weinstine attorney Tammera Diehm.

Schmuckal was founded in 1955 when Art Schmuckal and George Slane developed a partnership to supply fuel to service stations in and around Traverse City, Mich. In the 1980s, Art’s son, Paul Schmuckal, took control of the company and transitioned it from a wholesale supplier to a leading convenience retailer in northern Michigan. Schmuckal Oil became a multi-branded fuels company through the acquisition of several Marathon stores in 2000 and has been consistently recognized as one of the best Shell operators in the country.

Winthrop & Weinstine’s downstream energy group is led by Tammera Diehm and Jim Dierking.  Other key members of the team on this transaction included Kristy Lieblein, Jen Thuente and Krista Bengtson Cook.