AmeriGas agrees to acquire Heritage Propane

AmeriGas Partners L.P. has agreed to acquire the propane operations of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) L.P., which consists of Heritage Propane, for approximately $2.9 billion.

AmeriGas has an office in Ramona and ProFlame is a retail location for Heritage Propane in Ramona.

Stephen Sheffield, senior vice president of marketing and operations for Heritage Propane, said now it is just an agreement that is subject to government approval.

“Right now our business is unchanged,” he told the Sentinel on Monday. “We’re still competing with AmeriGas. It’s business as usual. The service to our customers is the most important thing and that is unchanged.”

Energy Transfer Partners announced the deal on Oct. 17. Under the terms of the agreement, ETP will receive $1.5 billion in cash and approximately $1.3 billion of AmeriGas Partners common units, according to an ETP press release. In addition, AmeriGas has agreed to assume about $71 million of existing Heritage Propane debt, the release said.

Following the transaction, ETP will own approximately 34 percent of the common units of AmeriGas and has committed to retain those units until at least 2013. The transaction is expected to close late in 2011 or early in 2012, ETP stated in the press release.

The ETP website says Heritage Propane is one of the three largest retail marketers of propane in the United States, serving more than 1 million customers in 41 states.