Caterpillar dealer Finning to buy Canadian on-site refueling firm 4Refuel for $260M

The Caterpillar dealer will add the fuel service company in a bolt-on acquisition. PHOTO: Finning Canada

VANCOUVER—Finning International Inc. is stepping up its on-site services offering with a major acquisition.

The Caterpillar dealer said Dec. 11 that it has agreed to buy both the Canadian and U.S. operations of mobile refueling firm 4Refuel for $260 million.

Toronto-based 4Refuel serves customers in the construction, transportation, power and oil and gas industries, providing direct-to-equipment fueling, typically when equipment is sitting idle. The service is designed to increase productivity and save on labour costs.

“With this investment we will provide new and existing customers with additional services to improve productivity and decrease their total cost of equipment ownership,” Scott Thomson, Finning’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

4Refuel is expected to post revenue of $110 million in 2018. Though it has operations both in Canada and the U.S., Finning said 95 per cent of the company’s profitability can be attributed to Canada. It employs about 600 workers and serves 3,400 customers, half of which are located in the Western provinces that overlap with Finning’s primary Canadian territory.

The equipment dealer said the purchase will create numerous synergies, as well as allow it to sell more fuel services to its current customers.

The deal remains subject to the typical regulatory hurdles, but is expected to close in 2019.