Paraco Gas to acquire AmeriGas' Long Island customer accounts

Paraco Gas Corp., a Rye Brook, N.Y.-based distributor of propane gas, said Thursday it will acquire the Long Island customer accounts of AmeriGas Partners LP,  nearly two weeks after AmeriGas reported it would lay off 27 employees and close three local offices in a filing with New York State.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a spokesman for Paraco said it purchased the 12,000 Long Island accounts plus some of the company's equipment from  AmeriGas, based in King of Prussia, Pa. Paraco's customer base on the Island will expand to 40,000 as a result of the acquisition.

Paraco operates three distribution centers on Long Island -- in Riverhead, Bay Shore and Bohemia -- and employs more than 80 workers.

In the July 26 notice filed with the New York Labor Department, AmeriGas noted that employees in its Wyandach, Riverhead and Lake Ronkonkoma offices would be laid off, and listed the reason as "economic." The company did not return a request for comment.