Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P. (BKEP)

Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P. was a master limited partnership that owned and operated asphalt terminals across the United States. Its facilities stored, processed and blended liquid asphalt cement for paving and roofing customers, giving it steady fee-based revenue tied to road construction. Earlier in its life the partnership also ran crude oil pipelines, storage tanks and trucking operations, mostly in Oklahoma and Texas.

The partnership went public in 2007 as SemGroup Energy Partners, an affiliate of SemGroup. When SemGroup filed for bankruptcy in July 2008, the partnership was left exposed and spent the next year restructuring. It took the Blueknight name in late 2009, and its general partner was later controlled by investors that included Vitol and Charlesbank Capital Partners. The new owners worked to rebuild the business and stabilize its finances.

In October 2016, Vitol sold its interest in the general partner to Ergon, a privately owned Mississippi company active in asphalt, refining and transportation. Under Ergon, Blueknight sold off most of its crude oil assets and focused on asphalt terminalling. Its common units traded on Nasdaq as BKEP and its Series A preferred units traded as BKEPP. The preferred units paid a fixed quarterly distribution to holders.

In 2022, Ergon agreed to acquire all of the public common and preferred units it did not already own, in a transaction valued at about $135.9 million. The deal was approved and closed on August 17, 2022. Blueknight's units were then removed from Nasdaq, and the partnership became a wholly owned part of Ergon, ending its time as a public company.