Blueknight Energy to buy asphalt plants

Oklahoma City-based Blueknight Energy Partners LP has agreed to buy asphalt plants in Muskogee and Georgia for $32.5 million in cash and stock.

Under terms of the deal, Blueknight agreed to buy the asphalt terminalling facility in Muskogee from Frontier Terminal LLC and Cummins Investment Corp. and a facility in Bainbridge, Georgia, from subsidiaries of Mississippibased Ergon Inc., which owns the outstanding membership interest of BlueKnight’s general partner.

Blueknight executives said the company will pay for the deal with $22 million in cash and by issuing $10.5 million in Blueknight stock to Ergon in a private placement.

Both deals are expected to close by year’s end. They will expand Blueknight’s network to 56 asphalt terminals in 26 states with a combined capacity of 10.3 million barrels of asphalt and residual fuel oil storage.

Also this week, Blueknight reported a third-quarter profit of $9.8 million on revenues of $47.5 million, compared to net income of $11.4 million on revenues of $46.9 million in the third quarter of 2016. The profit translates to a net income of 13 cents a share, down from 8 cents a share one year ago.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $22.8 million, up from $21.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Operating income was $12.2 million, down from $13.4 million one year ago. Distributable cash flow was $16.6 million, down from $18.2 million in the year-ago period.

“Once again, our asphalt terminalling services segment continued its strong performance even though wetterthan-normal conditions earlier this year put us slightly behind our expectations,” CEO Mark Hurley said in a statement. “That noted, we expect strong product throughputs in the first part of the fourth quarter and anticipate reaching internal expectations for the year. The demand for our customers’ products continues to be strong, and the need for improved infrastructure remains acute.”