LITTLETON, Colo. -- With an eye on becoming a regional retailing force, K&G Petroleum LLC will more than double its size with the pending purchase of 92 ConocoPhillips sites through Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC. "This is a really big deal for us," Darby Tucker, business development manager for K&G Petroleum, told CSP Daily News. "And we still are not done. We'd like to get bigger."
Littleton, Colo.-based K&G Petroleum signed a definitive agreement to acquire the sites, which Pacific Convenience & Fuels is purchasing from ConocoPhillips, as reported in a CSP Daily [image-nocss] News Flash yesterday.
"We actually bid on parts of the Conoco package [prior to Pacific Convenience winning all 600 available ConocoPhillips sites], along with 50 other companies. When we saw we didn't get it and that Pacific Convenience got it, we contacted them," Tucker said. "They talked to us, and both of us have talked to Conoco and said, 'Here's what we'd like to do.' So I think we're getting [ConocoPhillips'] blessing, as well."
Already a ConocoPhillips marketer in Denver, K&G Petroleum will own and operate 162 c-stores in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Utah and New Mexico, upon closing of the deal. The transaction is expected to close simultaneously with the previously announced acquisition of all of ConocoPhillips' remaining U.S. owned and operated retail and c-store outlets by Pacific Convenience & Fuels on December 15.
"Two years ago, K&G Petroleum outlined a long-term plan to own and operate 300 stores in the West and Midwest," Baljit Nanda, chairman of K&G Petroleum, said in a statement. "This purchase will certainly help us to achieve our long-term goals, not only in the number of sites, but in also getting us into other markets where we would like to continue to grow."
Tucker was confident about K&G Petroleum's move into new markets. "We just have to develop our organization and take it from there," he said. "If we staff it right, [it will be manageable]. Conoco's got a lot of great people we're going to be talking to.… We're trying to make this almost seamless, keep their people, keep their organization and just keep this thing going."
Nanda and his partner Preet Singh have owned and operated c-stores for almost 20 years with the ConocoPhillips brand. The company operated fewer than 20 stores for several years before purchasing all of the Colorado BP sites in 2005 and rebranding them to ConocoPhillips.
"We look forward to expanding our strategic alliance with ConocoPhillips as a premier growth partner," said Singh, "and are very pleased to have established a new relationship with Sam Hirbod and his team at Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC."
The newly purchased stores will come with ConocoPhillips supply agreements; however, Tucker said K&G, which operates its stores under the Jenny's Market name, will need to review the store brand. "All the sites we're buying are Circle K, so that's something that has to be looked at," he said. "We'll probably work with Circle K for some period of time. I don't know that we can rule out Jenny's everywhere."
The transaction is expected to close subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Attempts to reach Hirbod, CEO of Pacific Convenience & Fuel, Kent, Wash., for comment were unsuccessful at press time; however, Tucker said he does not expect additional reselling of the other 500 ConocoPhillips properties. "We made first contact [with Pacific Convenience], and some others may have contacted them," he said, "but as far as I know, they're not planning to sell anything else."
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