WALTHAM, Mass. -- More expansion is in the works for Global Partners LP with capital from an agreement that it just announced with an institutional real-estate investor for the sale and leaseback of 33 gas stations and convenience stores in New England for approximately $67 million.
“Consistent with our objective of providing additional liquidity for the partnership, we expect to use the material proceeds generated from this transaction to reduce debt and provide financial flexibility to reinvest in and expand our businesses,” said Eric Slifka, president and CEO of Global Partners.
“This sale-leaseback is part of a strategy we shared with investors earlier this year to optimize our assets, in this instance unlocking the value in some of our fee-owned real estate and productively deploying the capital.”
As reported in a McLane/CSP Daily News Flash, Global Partners will sell the retail sites to the unnamed buyer and will lease them back for a period of 15 years with 20 years of contractual extension options.
The companies expect the transaction, which is subject to customary due diligence, to close no later than early third-quarter 2016.
Last week, Mirabito Holdings Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire 31 gas stations and convenience stores, 26 in New York and five in Pennsylvania, from Global Partners.
In February, Slifka said the company expected to sell 125 “nonstrategic” convenience stores within the next year.
“As we focus on further optimizing the cash flow from our retail portfolio of 844 owned or lease sites, we have identified approximately 125 nonstrategic sites for sale,” he said during the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 earnings call. “We anticipate maintaining wholesale supply to some of these sites. We also have identified an additional 25 locations that warrant a change in mode of operation to maximize value.”
Waltham, Mass.-based Global Partners is a midstream logistics and marketing company that owns, controls or has access to one of the largest terminal networks of petroleum products and renewable fuels in the Northeast. It also is one of the largest distributors of gasoline, distillates, residual oil and renewable fuels to wholesalers, retailers and commercial customers in New England and New York. The company is engaged in the transportation of crude oil and other products by rail from the midcontinental United States and Canada to the East and West coasts for distribution to refiners and others. With approximately 1,500 locations, primarily in the Northeast, Global Partners is one of the largest independent owners, suppliers and operators of gas stations and convenience stores.
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