Mergers & Acquisitions

Pester Acquires Western Convenience Stores

Will convert all 42 locations to the Alta brand

DENVER -- Pester Marketing Co. has acquired Western Convenience Stores Inc.’s 42 retail outlets in and around Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Colorado mountain resort locations and western Nebraska.

Pester will rebrand all of the stores to its proprietary Alta Convenience Stores brand and will offer Phillips 66 gasoline products.

CEO Hossein Taraghi founded Centennial, Colo.-based Western Convenience Stores in 1989 with a single location. From 1990 to 2011, he grew the company through the strategic acquisition of existing c-store locations. Stores range in size from small formats up to 4,000 square feet, with the average store size of more than 2,000 square feet.

Denver-based Pester Marketing, a unit of Western Alta Holdings LP Co., San Antonio, operates 119 stores in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Kansas and Washington. The company also provides motor-fuel products under several national and regional brands, including Conoco, 76, Phillips 66, ExxonMobil, Shell and Alta Fuels.

“We are extremely pleased to significantly expand our presence in our hometown market, and to introduce our services and products to Western’s customers,” said Rich Spresser, president of Pester Marketing. “We welcome Western’s employees into our family as well, and are excited about our combined future.”

“I am very pleased to be able to sell the Western portfolio of stores to Pester Marketing. Our locations complement theirs and they are experienced operators with a great reputation in the industry,” said Taraghi.

Chicago-based NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC served as exclusive financial adviser to Western Convenience Stores in connection with the sale. Pester Marketing retained Corner Capital Advisors LLC, Santa Barbara, Calif., as its exclusive adviser for the transaction, with financing facilities secured through Crow Holdings Capital Partners.

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