DENVER — Monfort Cos. has acquired eight convenience stores with fuel from Penta Operating LLC, doing business as Jack’s Convenience Stores. The deal also includes one Jack’s Lube & Wash oil change and car wash location. The stores are located in the west Texas markets of Midland, San Angelo and Abilene.
Four stores offer Exxon-branded fuel, while four sell Jack’s branded fuel.
Denver-based investment management company Monfort Cos. has been investing in and operating c-stores, including multiple 7-Eleven locations, since 2016. It holds properties with more than a dozen convenience store and gas station locations across the Front Range in Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas, along with other holdings and investments in the dining, hospitality, commercial and residential sectors. The company has focused on rural markets, it said, but has started acquiring urban locations. It is “actively pursuing” expansion opportunities in Minnesota, Texas and Arizona, the company has said.
Under various entities, but through continued related family ownership, Penta has operated retail convenience stores with fuel in west Texas since the early 1970s, when founder Frank Ligon founded the Frank Ligon Oil Co. In 2001, Ligon’s daughter, Monica Wolfe, and her husband, Tyler Wolfe, purchased the business from Ligon. In 2014, Penta Operating was formed and four former Town & Country Food Stores’ executives, consisting of Alvin New, Devin Bates, Randy Brooks and Robert Eggleston, invested in the company with the Wolfes. The portfolio of stores is a combination of assets acquired from ExxonMobil and new-to-industry locations, with four of the Stores having been constructed since 2013.
Since its inception in 2008, the Jack’s brand has become known in the region and has developed a loyal customer base. The company offers a mix of c-store staples and proprietary Jack’s-branded products tailored to local consumers. The stores are comprised of high-quality, larger format retail stores and five of the locations feature car washes, including two tunnel washes.
Two locations have proprietary Jack’s Grub N Stuff foodservice offerings including breakfast burritos and biscuits, sandwiches, pizza and freshly prepared salads. Additionally, tenant-operated foodservice offerings are featured at two sites, consisting of Which Wich Superior Sandwiches and Chuck & Patty’s, a local fast-casual restaurant concept offering hamburgers, frozen treats and beer on tap.
“This was an emotional transaction for our entire team,” said Tyler Wolfe, co-operating partner of Penta, Midland, Texas. “Monfort Cos. … is a great fit for all of our outstanding transferring team members and will be a great steward to carry on the legacy of the Jack’s brand as they continue to expand.”
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Jack’s, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the transaction. Cedric Fortemps, co-head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group, managed the transaction for Richmond, Va.-based Matrix with David Corbett, director, John Mickelinc, associate and Alex Harper, analyst.
Since 1930, Monfort has invested in and developed commercial real estate projects in the Rocky Mountain region and beyond. It focuses on projects that serve as economic drivers and growth engines for urban and rural communities. Monfort is actively expanding its c-store and gas-station footprint to include Colorado, the Midwest, Texas and the Southeast.
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