Breaktime Corner Market LLC (BTCM) is acquiring 39 convenience stores operating under the Minit Mart brand in central and northern Illinois from EG America LLC, the U.S. unit of U.K.-based EG Group Ltd. In its third-quarter trading report, EG Group said the transaction yielded net proceeds of $38 million.
The companies expect the transaction to be completed this month.
This acquisition follows BTCM's purchase of 23 Loaf N’ Jug stores in June, also from Westborough, Massachusetts-based EG America.
EG America is No. 5 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 U.S. c-store chains by store count.
BTCM plans to rebrand the Minit Mart stores under its “BrakeTime” name, enhance the merchandise selection and retain all existing team members, reinforcing its commitment to community integration and employee retention.
“This acquisition is a tremendous strategic fit as we expand our presence in Illinois and the broader Midwest,” Usman Bashir, president of BTCM, said in a statement provided to CSP. “We are excited to serve more guests in these communities and to welcome dedicated team members from EG America into the BTCM family.”
BTCM now owns and operates more than 300 convenience stores, gas stations and travel plazas under the BrakeTime and Corner Market brands, with a growing footprint across the Midwest and beyond.
Of the 23 Loaf ‘N Jug convenience stores BTCM acquired in June, 14 are in North Dakota and nine in Montana.
In its trading report, EG Group also said that this month it sold 19 Minit Mart stores in Kansas and Missouri to an undisclosed buyer for $21 million.
The Houston-based company that would become BTCM bought its first convenience store in Houston in 1999. Established as BTCM in 2004, it has emerged as a multifaceted enterprise specializing in the operation and management of gas stations, convenience stores, retail shopping centers, office buildings and the acquisition of land for retail development.
Breaktime Corner Market LLC (BTCM) and the BrakeTime brand are not related to Columbia, Missouri-based MFA Oil Co.’s BreakTime c-store brand.
In 2022, BTCM acquired 48 CEFCO c-stores from Temple, Texas-based Fikes Wholesale Inc. (Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores Inc. closed on the $1.145 billion acquisition of Fikes Wholesale, owner of CEFCO Convenience Stores, on Nov. 1.)
Founded in 2001 by the Issa Family, Blackburn, U.K.-based EG Group is a gasoline forecourt and retail convenience operator with more than 6,200 sites across the United Kingdom and Ireland, Europe, the United States and Australia. In 2018, EG Group established itself in the United States as EG America by acquiring Kroger’s 762-site c-store network, which included the Turkey Hill, Loaf ‘N Jug, Kwik Shop, Tom Thumb and Quik Stop banners. It acquired TravelCenters of America’s Minit Mart convenience-store business in 2018. The portfolio included 225 c-stores. And in 2019, among other acquisitions, EG Group acquired Cumberland Farms and its nearly 660 c-stores in the Northeast and Florida.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.