DALLAS --Sunoco LP has completed two acquisitions for a total of 32 convenience stores in two states.
Valentine Stores
The company has closed on the deal to acquire a retail convenience-store business serving the upstate New York market from Watertown, N.Y.-based Valentine Stores Inc. for $76.4 million. It includes 18 company-operated Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes locations that sell approximately 20 million gallons of fuel annually.
The assets include two Tim Hortons and five Subway in-store quick-service restaurants (QSRs), as well as one stand-alone Tim Hortons and one Tim Hortons in an Express Mart convenience store operated by a third party. It also includes three raw tracts of land for future store development.
This acquisition strengthens Sunoco's existing convenience-store business in upstate New York.
CST Brands Inc., San Antonio, and CrossAmerica Partners LP, Allentown, Pa., jointly acquired the majority of the Nice N Easy chain from the Canastota, N.Y.-based retailer in late 2014.
Rattlers
Dallas-based Sunoco LP also completed the acquisition of the Rattlers convenience-store assets and wholesale fuel business from Kolkhorst Petroleum Inc., Navasota, Texas, for an undisclosed price.
This acquisition includes 14 company-operated locations and wholesale fuel supply contracts for a network of independent dealer-owned and -operated locations in the greater Austin, Houston and Waco, Texas, markets. The business distributes approximately 46 million gallons of retail and wholesale fuel annually under the Exxon, Shell and Valero fuel brands and 34 dealer accounts to which the company supplies branded and unbranded fuel. Sunoco also acquired five fee properties and nine leased properties related to the retail business.
The Rattlers convenience stores will be reimaged to Sunoco’s Stripes brand, and the dealer locations will retain their current fuel brands through Sunoco’s wholesale branded fuel marketer agreements. The Kolkhorst family will retain and continue to operate their commercial fuel, bobtail and lubricant business with the headquarters remaining in Navasota.
“We are pleased to transition the majority of our employees to a company of Sunoco’s caliber. With Sunoco’s strong leadership and proven track-record in the industry, we are confident that our team will benefit greatly from this acquisition with a growth-oriented company,” Jim Kolkhorst, CEO of Kolkhorst Petroleum, said.
Corner Capital Advisors LLC, assisted Kolkhorst Petroleum with the acquisition process. “We are excited for Sunoco’s opportunity to benefit from the legacy of customer service and community involvement that the Kolkhorst family’s stores and people have provided since 1972,” said Carl Ray Polk Jr. of Corner Capital.
This acquisition strengthens Sunoco's existing c-store and wholesale fuel distribution business in the central and southeastern Texas markets.
The company funded both transactions using amounts available under its revolving credit facility, and it expects the transactions to be immediately accretive to Sunoco with respect to distributable cash flow.
Sunoco LP is a master limited partnership (MLP) that operates approximately 1,300 retail fuel sites and convenience stores (including those under the APlus, Stripes, Aloha Island Mart and Tigermarket brands) and distributes motor fuel to convenience stores, independent dealers, commercial customers and distributors located in 30 states at approximately 6,800 sites. Its parent company, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Equity LP, owns Sunoco's general partner and incentive distribution rights.
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