Following a two-year preparation process, Crystal Flash has successfully transitioned to a 100-percent employee-owned company. The Grand Rapids-based fuel distribution company’s roughly 250 employees purchased Crystal Flash in late April from longtime owner and Chairman Tom Fehsenfeld via a leveraged employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).As a leveraged ESOP, Crystal Flash’s employees borrowed an undisclosed sum from Mercantile Bank to purchase the company instead of the owner contributing stocks to the employees, as is the case in a non-leveraged ESOP. Grand Rapids-based Charter Capital Partners and Warner, Norcross & Judd LLP advised Crystal Flash on the process.Going forward, Crystal Flash plans to continue its strategy of making strategic acquisitions, a strategy the company put on hold during this transition. Read more at MiBiz