ROCKFORD, Ill. -- Enex, a subsidiary of Chilean conglomerate Quinenco, has reached an agreement to acquire Road Ranger for $289 million. The companies expect to close the transaction in the next few months.
Road Ranger, based in Rockford, Ill., has 38 travel centers located in Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin.
- Road Ranger is No. 164 in CSP’s 2018 Top 202 ranking of c-store chains by number of company-owned retail outlets.
“This transaction not only represents an important step in the development of Enex, but also is consistent with the internationalization strategy that Quinenco has been promoting in recent years,” said Francisco Perez Mackenna, general manager of Quinenco and president of Enex.
“We are pleased that a market as challenging as the U.S. is will be the country in which Enex begins its internationalization. It represents a significant opportunity to continue growing our retail offer, in a market where 60% of the margin comes from complementary services and 40% from the fuel,” said Nicolas Correa, general manager of Enex.
"Road Ranger has a significant growth potential in the number of stores and maturation of its current network of travel centers, with presence in two of the three states with the highest concentration of cargo traffic by trucks in the U.S.,” he said. “This leaves us very well positioned to capitalize on the trend of strong growth in demand for this mode of transport in that country, which has grown 6.7% in the last year.”
Along with gasoline and diesel fuel, the facilities offer a wide range of amenities and services, including quick-service restaurants such as Subway, Church's, Chester's, Cinnabon, Dickie's Barbecue Pit, McDonald's and Burger King, as well as restrooms, showers and truck weighing.
In 2015, GPM Investments LLC, Richmond, Va., acquired 42 convenience stores in Illinois, Iowa and Kentucky from Road Ranger and is rebranding them to its Fas Mart brand.
Founded in 2011 as a licensee of Shell in Chile, Enex, a subsidiary of Los Condes, Chile-based Quinenco SA, has a network of 454 gas stations and offers a new concept of convenience stores called upa. The company also sells industrial fuels and distributes Shell lubricants, asphalts and chemical products.
Raymond James, St. Petersburg, Fla., is advising Road Ranger in connection with the transaction.
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