WALTHAM, Mass. -- Keeping true to its word about continuing to “remain active” on the mergers-and-acquisitions front, Global Partners LP has acquired 33 convenience stores from Honey Farms Inc. The retail fuel and convenience-store assets include 11 company-operated retail sites with fuel and c-stores and 22 stand-alone c-stores. The purchase price of the cash transaction was about $36 million.
Executives at the master limited partnership (MLP) will “continue to focus on investments we believe will contribute to the partnership’s future organic growth,” Eric Slifka, president and CEO of Global Partners, said on the company’s earnings call in August. “That investment opportunity could be an M&A acquisition, that investment opportunity could be raze-and-rebuilds and NTIs (new to industry). So there are good uses for the capital to grow the business.”
All of the Honey Farms sites are in the Worcester, Mass., area. Some of the stores feature McDonald’s, Honey Dew Donuts, Subway, D’Angelo Sandwich Shops or Dunkin' Donuts quick-service restaurants (QSRs).
“This transaction aligns with our objective of acquiring sites that expand our footprint and enable us to benefit from economies of scale in the purchase of fuel and convenience-store merchandise,” said Slifka in announcing the deal.
Global Partners has about 1,500 retail locations, mainly in the Northeast, making it one of the largest regional independent owners, suppliers and operators of gas stations and c-stores. The Waltham, Mass.-based company’s family of brands includes Alltown, Alliance Energy and Xtra Mart.
The Iandoli family’s retail food operations of delis and supermarkets goes back to the 1920s. The family has owned Worcester-based Honey Farms since it took over a bankrupt 19-store operation in 1969. The roots of the Honey Farms brand date back to the 1950s, when they were dairy stores selling bread, milk and other staple food items.
After the family sold the supermarket business in 1985, the Honey Farms c-stores became its core focus. The business grew significantly under the leadership of Wilfred Iandoli, who died in 2016, and under current President and CEO David Murdock, who has spent more than four decades with the company.
“Having worked for Honey Farms and with the Iandoli family for over 40 years, the sale of the company is bittersweet, but the outcome for the family has been very successful,” said Murdock. “I want to thank the Iandoli family and our talented employees whose enduring commitment built an extremely strong company.”
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., Richmond, Va., provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Honey Farms, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction.
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