DALLAS and IRVING, Texas -- Nine months after announcing plans to acquire most of Sunoco's retail sites, 7-Eleven and Sunoco underscored their commitment to the deal this week, even as Sunoco announced a deal for the operation of 207 c-stores that were not part of the transaction with 7-Eleven.
“7-Eleven Inc. and Sunoco LP are jointly committed to closing the value-creating transaction,” the companies said. “The companies believe the transaction to be in the latter stages of the regulatory approval process with the Federal Trade Commission. Subject to completion of the regulatory process and customary closing conditions, 7-Eleven and Sunoco expect closing to occur in January 2018.”
When it closes, 7-Eleven’s more than $3.3 billion acquisition of 1,100 company-operated c-stores in Texas, New York, Florida and other states from Sunoco LP will bring it across the threshold of 10,000 c-stores in the United States. The deal is the company’s largest acquisition ever, taking advantage of Sunoco’s shift in focus to wholesale fuel.
In Texas, the deal includes the Stripes c-store and Laredo Taco Company foodservice brand that Sunoco gained from its $1.9 billion purchase of Susser Holdings Corp., Corpus Christi, Texas, in 2015.
- 7-Eleven ranked No. 1 on CSP's 2017 Top 202 list of the largest c-store chains in the United States. Ahead of the 7-Eleven deal, Sunoco ranked No. 6 on the list. Click here to read "Ranking the Top 40 C-Store Chains: A Year-End Review."
Meanwhile, Sunoco said it has signed definitive agreements with a commission agent to operate 207 retail sites in certain West Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico markets that were not included in the transaction with 7-Eleven. Sunoco said it expects the conversion of these sites to the commission agent, an unnamed “proven operator,” to occur in first-quarter 2018.
“Commission agent is a proven and profitable channel within our current fuel-distribution portfolio,” Sunoco said. The commission agent model is “a high-value alternative to an asset sale. [It] captures a material portion of fuel margin less a commission to the agent [and] generates stable rental income through Sunoco’s continued ownership of real estate.”
Dallas-based Sunoco is a master limited partnership (MLP) that operates 1,346 convenience stores and retail fuel sites and distributes motor fuel to 7,898 c-stores, independent dealers, commercial customers and distributors in 30 states. Its parent, Energy Transfer Equity LP, owns Sunoco's general partner and incentive distribution rights.
Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 61,000 c-stores in 17 countries.
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