RICHMOND, Va. — GPM Investments LLC, a subsidiary of ARKO Corp., has extended by one year its existing $1 billion agreement with real estate investment firm Oak Street Real Estate Capital, a division of Blue Owl Capital. The extended agreement provides aggregate availability of $1.15 billion during the second year of the term.
ARKO and Oak Street have extended the agreement signed in May 2021, in which Oak Street agreed to purchase and lease real estate to GPM or its affiliates. In addition to the $253 million of real estate purchased by Oak Street under the agreement, and the $130 million of real estate expected to be purchased in the recently announced acquisition of the fleet fueling card lock and distribution assets of Quarles Petroleum, Oak Street has committed up to $1.15 billion for the second year of the term, subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement.
GPM has executed 20 acquisitions since 2011, and it now has 1,406 retail convenience stores and 1,628 wholesale sites in 33 states and the District of Columbia. The Quarles Petroleum deal marks GPM’s 21st acquisition, which it expects to close in second-quarter 2022.
“Working with Oak Street has given us significant dealmaking flexibility,” said Arie Kotler, president and CEO of ARKO, Richmond, Va. “We plan to continue our highly successful acquisition model with even more creative solutions for sellers, who we believe recognize that we are an acquirer of choice because of our proven strategy of preserving strong local brands while closing deals at highly attractive multiples.”
New York-based Blue Owl is a global alternative asset manager with $94.5 billion in assets under management. Oak Street, a division of Blue Owl, is a real estate investment firm focused on acquiring properties net-leased to investment grade and creditworthy tenants. Oak Street’s investment funds currently have $15 billion of discretionary acquisition capacity and co-investment capacity to be deployed into sale-leasebacks and build-to suits. Oak Street specializes in providing flexible capital solutions to a variety of organizations including corporations, healthcare systems, universities and government entities.
“We have had a great experience with ARKO and are excited to enter phase two of our partnership with them,” said Marc Zahr, founder and president of Oak Street, Chicago.
- GPM is No. 6 on CSP’s 2022 Top 40 Update to the 2021 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2022 Top 202 ranking in the June issue of CSP magazine and in CSP Daily News.
ARKO operates in three segments: retail, which includes c-stores selling fuel products, food, beverages and merchandise to retail customers; wholesale, which supplies fuel to independent dealers and consignment agents; and GPM Petroleum, which sells and supplies fuel to ARKO’s retail and wholesale sites. GPM’s c-store brands include Fas Mart, Shore Stop, Scotchman, BreadBox, Young's, Li'l Cricket, Next Door Store, Village Pantry, Apple Market, Jiffi Stop, Admiral, Roadrunner Markets, Jiffy Food Marts, E-Z Mart, 1 Stop, TownStar, ExpressStop and Handy Mart.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.