Wright Express Corp. announced today, March 3, that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of certain assets of privately held Pacific Pride Services Inc. With a total value of about $32 million, the transaction was financed through the company’s existing credit facility.
Pacific Pride’s franchise network encompasses more than 330 independent fuel franchisees that issue their own Pacific Pride commercial fueling cards to fleet customers. These cards provide access to fuel at more than 1,000 Pacific Pride and strategic partner locations in the United States and Canada. The Pacific Pride network of franchisee fueling sites processes about 32 million fleet card transactions annually and generates about 80 percent of its revenue from transaction fees.
“Pacific Pride offers compelling benefits to distributors and the fleets they serve, making it an outstanding strategic addition to our core business,” says Michael Dubyak, president and chief executive officer of South Portland, Maine-based Wright Express. “In addition, the distributors in Pacific Pride’s franchise network represent a cross-selling opportunity for our new TelaPoint business.”
With products from both TelaPoint and Pacific Pride, Wright Express can provide fuel distributors with a comprehensive solution that spans everything from management of fuel inventory at their bulk and retail sites to payment processing and purchasing controls for their fleet customers, Dubyak says. “Adding these new dimensions to the Wright Express value proposition should accelerate our strategic distributor initiatives and our growth in the small-fleet market.”
