OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Of late, new entrants have been cropping up in the convenience store industry with deep pockets and goals of hitting the 100-plus store count in a year or less.
Witness Alchemist USA LLC. The Chicago-based company has India-based roots and entered the U.S. c-store market in late March with the purchase of a 17-store chain in Southern Illinois. With a range of business interests, from agricultural, chemical and engineering products to highly specialized machineryand equipments, according to the company Web site, Alchemist also [image-nocss] enters the industry with high hopes.
The company's future plans include acquiring 200 gas station/convenience stores in the next two years. The company also aims to acquire a refinery in the next two years and venture into crude-oil business, according to the Web site.
The Veach Oil acquisition has provided us with a solid foothold for future expansion in Central & Southern Illinois, said Ravi Singh, president of Alchemist. The company took over Veach's 17 Short Stop stores in early April.
A family-owned company in business since 1925, John Veach, owner of Veach Oil, said he will continue to operate as a gasoline wholesaler in the region. He preferred not to discuss why he was getting out of the c-store business. Petro Properties and Financing, Coral Gable, Fla., brokered the deal.
Similar to Alchemist is EZ Energy Ltd., a New York-based company with roots in Israel. Since the beginning of the year, EZ Energy has announced plans to enter the U.S. c-store market via a handful of letters of intent to buy. In April, the company officially signed its first two deals to acquire 40 stores.
Oren Zahavi, the company's vice chairman, would not share details of the acquisitions or the company's strategyeven to the point of refusing to say was part of the country the company is targeting; however, he said another 60 stores could come under contract soon, and EZ Energy will own and operate the sites. We are looking at other deals now that we hope to sign very soon, he said.
The CEO of EZ Energy is Avi Geffen, a former executive with Alon Israel Oil Co.
Then there's Petroleum Consolidators of America Inc., which completed what it called "the first of a series of retail gasoline station acquisitions expected to close in 2007" in early March.
The West Palm Beach, Fla.-based company calls itself a development-stage company, but if president and CEO David Cohen gets his way, it will own and operate more than 40 convenience stores and have revenues exceeding $100 million by 2010.
"Our company continues its forward momentum that began earlier this year, to implement a comprehensive, strategic consolidation strategy focused on the highly fragmented gasoline station and convenience-store industry," Cohen said in a recent press release.
As part of its comprehensive roll-up strategy, the company expects to acquire at least six retail gasoline facilities in 2007. These six acquisitions are expected to generate $22 million in revenue and $2.3 million in income.
Its corporate mission, however, is much grander, according to its Web site: "Petroleum Consolidators of America Inc.'s mission is to become the largest publicly traded gasoline retailing company on the East Coast of the United States. Our objective is to generate gross sales revenue that exceeds $150 million annually over the next three years through an aggressive acquisition strategy, which includes closing and integrating 15 to 20 retail facilities yearly.
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