A second company with Andalusia branches was sold to a larger conglomerate this week.

It was announced Thursday that Cooperative Propane, a local propane gas company, was sold to ThompsonGas earlier this week.

Officials at ThompsonGas said its subsidiary, Thompson-Gas-Southeast, purchased Cooperative Propane Inc.’s assets from Power-South Energy.

PowerSouth Communications Manager Mark Ingram said PowerSouth sold Cooperative Propane because it no longer fit into the cooperative’s long-term business plan.

When the acquisition is complete, ThompsonGas will serve nearly 170,000 customers in 10 states.

“We are excited to bring together ThompsonGas and the Cooperative and Fox operations,” said J. Randall Thompson, president and CEO of ThompsonGas, located in Hagertown, Md.

Thompson said these purchases represent an attractive strategic opportunity for his company.

“We are continuing to greatly expand our presence in the Southeast and the whole east coast of the United States,” he said.

ThompsonGas has offered employment to nearly all of the current employees at Cooperative Propane.

In fact, Benny Gay of Cooperative Propane will be named regional vice president-southeast operations and will oversee the company’s southeast propane operations, Thompson said.

“We are pleased that ThompsonGas will retain Cooperative Propane’s employment staff, and we wish them the best,” Ingram said. It was announced Thursday that Paris Packaging was purchased by the Finnish company Huhtamaki.