Road Ranger acquired by South American company for $289 million

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) -- It's believed to be the biggest private company sale in the history of Rockford. Road Ranger has been acquired by a South American company for nearly $300 million. This deal could impact economic growth in our area.

"International recognition of what we're doing in our community is certainly worth noting,” said President and CEO of Rockford Area Economic Development Council Nathan Bryant.

Rockford based Road Ranger has reached a deal to sell its current ownership to Enex, a company based out of Chile for $289 million.

"A near $300 million transaction for the sale of a company doesn’t come around every day. So when we have a sale of this size it’s market validation about the great things that are going on right here in Rockford,” said Bryant.

Road Ranger is the 4th largest network of travel centers in the US with 38 locations throughout the Midwest and Texas. The company's name, mission, headquarters and locations will stay the same and no employees will be laid off.

"We’ll take that job retention any opportunity we have and again it's great for us that an outside corporation has interest in purchasing companies that were started right here in Rockford,” said Bryant.

In a statement, Road Ranger CEO David Saporta says, "We are very pleased to have Enex make this important investment in Road Ranger. It represents the successful culmination of substantial capital investment and decades of hard work by the company's founder Dan Arnold, who passed in 2015. It gives our company the ability to maintain its current corporate and operational infrastructure while pursuing significant growth opportunities in our industry."

“It allows for opportunities to bring things into our market that we're not currently seeing that can be an enhancement to our community,” said Bryant.

The acquisition should be completed in a few months.