TEL AVIV -- Petro Group Ltd., the Tel Aviv, Israel-based parent company of GPM Investments LLC, Mechanicsville, Va., which operates the Fas Mart and Shore Stop chains, has completed its acquisition of the Double Kwik gas station and convenience store chain in the United States for $11.8 million (NIS 45.5 million), reported Globes. The deal was announced in May.
Double Kwik has 58 c-stores, 55 of them offering gasoline, with brands including Exxon, BP, CITGO, Shell and several others, in the states of Virginia and Tennessee. It also operates foodservice [image-nocss] franchises at 12 of its c-stores. Double Kwik also owns concession rights to branches of supermarket chains at 12 of the stores.
The turnover of the acquired outlets totaled $132 million in 2006. The latest acquisition, as first reported by CSP Daily News in June, brings the total number of gas stations and c-stores owned by Petro Group in the United States to 342.
Double Kwik Markets was founded in 1960 by Hogue and Verda Barnette. The first store was in Wise. In 1970, Earl Wendell Barnette and Jerry Barnette purchased the business from Hogue and Verda, their parents.From 1970 to 1980, the one store was operated with Wendell, Jerry and their families. In 1981, Double Kwik began expansion by building and buying additional units. In 1994, Jerry Barnette retired and sold his share of the business to Wendell and Brenda Barnette. Double Kwik is currently owned and operated by Earl Wendell Barnette and Brenda K. Barnette.
GPM Investments is a leading independently operated c-store and wholesale fuel distribution chains in the eastern United States. As of the latest acquisition completed during first-quarter 2007, Petro Group, through GPM, operates and supplies fuel in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The stores operate primarily under the Fas Mart brand, as well as several stores under the Shore Stop brand in the Delmarva Peninsula. The chain operates its gas stations primarily under the Valero brand as well as other brands such as BP, Shell and CITGO.
Petro Group has laid out a proactive growth strategy in which it will seek to acquire a substantial number of additional locations in the coming years, the company said. The funding for such growth is partially made possible by an infusion of capital into GPM from Russian-Israeli billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, who earlier this year acquired 65% of Ameris Holdings, majority owner of Petro Group.
Along with the Double Kwik deal, Petro Group announced in August 2007 that it had entered into agreement to acquire assets and operations of an additional 110 locations for about $60 million. The acquisition is expected to close in fourth-quarter 2007. Both announced acquisitions will bring the company's store count to approximately 450 stations.
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