EL PASO, Texas — Petro Stopping Centers has changed hands in the US, with Volvo selling off its 28.86% interest in the company to TravelCenters of America and Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT).

Subsequently, TravelCenters of America leased the truck stops owned by HPT and also acquired the outstanding assets of Petro Stopping Centers. It now controls all 69 Petro Stopping Centers travel centers in the US.

The Petro Stopping Centers are similar to TravelCenters of Americas own truck stops but they are generally newer and larger, the company announced yesterday.

Thomas OBrien, president and CEO of TravelCenters of America, said When TA was spun out of Hospitality Properties Trust as a separate public company in January 2007, TA stated that it expected it would find financially accretive opportunities to acquire additional properties in the travel center industry. We are delighted to be able to acquire such high quality properties as those operated by Petro. The Petro brands and the TA brands will be operated separately after the transaction closes, and we expect to seek to expand both brands through acquisitions, development and franchising. Each of the TA and Petro operations excel at certain aspects of the travel centers business and I expect the combined company will benefit by utilizing the best practices of each company.

For his part, Volvo president Peter Karlsten said Our dealers have truly embraced Volvos commitment to world-class service, and over the past several years, together we have made significant investments to dramatically expand and enhance our network. As a result of these efforts, we are now in a position to fully support our customers parts and service requirements through our dealer network.