Supermarket company Giant Eagle Inc. has sold its wholesale motor fuels distribution business to Cary Oil Co. Inc. in a transaction separate from the $1.57 billion sale of its Get Go Café + Markets convenience stores to Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., a deal that closed on June 29.
The wholesale motor fuels business distributes bp, Amoco, Phillips 66, Conoco and Marathon motor fuels to more than 80 contract dealer supply accounts in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle began distributing branded wholesale motor fuels in December 2018 when it acquired Anderson, Indiana-based Ricker Oil Co. Inc., and most of dealer supply accounts are concentrated in and around the greater Indianapolis metropolitan area.
Cary Oil’s current wholesale fuels distribution business supplies approximately 1,000 dealers across more than 20 states and delivers almost 1 billion gallons of fuel annually.
In June, Cary, North Carolina-based Cary Oil sold 15 Breeze Thru Markets to Clinton, North Carolina-based Sampson-Bladen Oil Co. Inc., which operates the Han-Dee Hugo’s c-stores.
Cary Oil was founded in 1959 by Harry Stephenson, operating a single tank wagon delivering home heating oil. Over the next several decades, it began offering branded motor fuels and further expanded its geographic reach across the southeastern United States. As its wholesale distribution network continued to extend into the Southwest and parts of the Midwest, Cary Oil also began operating c-stores in North Carolina, branding these locations with its proprietary Breeze Thru Markets brand. The Breeze Thru network consisted of 15 stores selling bp, 76 and Amoco fuels.
The Cary Oil deal comes as Giant Eagle has sold its portfolio of approximately 270 GetGo locations and WetGo car washes in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana to Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard, the parent company of the Circle K c-store chain.
- GetGo is No. 31 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., Richmond, Virginia, advised Giant Eagle on the sale of the GetGo convenience retail and WetGo Car Wash businesses, and on its wholesale motor fuels distribution businesses, to two separate buyers. Together, these two transactions represent a complete exit for the company from these operations, allowing Giant Eagle to focus on its core supermarket and pharmacy businesses.
“Over the years, it has been exciting to not only watch Giant Eagle grow its GetGo, WetGo and wholesale motor fuels distribution businesses but to also be part of the story by advising Giant Eagle on multiple occasions,” said Matrix Managing Director Stephen Lynch. “We have always admired Giant Eagle’s incredible operating prowess across all of its business lines.”
Matrix’s merger and acquisition advisory services for Giant Eagle included valuation advisory, conducting a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the transactions.
Matrix also provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Giant Eagle for the Ricker Oil deal and Cary Oil in the transaction with Sampson-Bladen Oil.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Winthrop & Weinstine served as legal counsel for Giant Eagle with respect to the transactions with Couche-Tard and Cary Oil, respectively.
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