A Year of Unexpected Deals: M&A in 2023

Some big deals took place in 2023 that are changing the convenience-store landscape and that are raising questions about what brands will occupy that landscape.

Click through to revisit the biggest deals of the year that stood out among other transactions and mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) developments. …

Two strong regional convenience-store networks came together in 2023.

In August, Maverik Inc. and its parent company, FJ Management, completed the acquisition of family-owned Kum & Go and Solar Transport from Krause Group.

The deal makes Maverik the 12th largest convenience-store chain in the nation. Salt Lake City-based Maverik has approximately 400 locations in 12 states, the largest independent fuel marketer in the Intermountain West. Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go has more than 400 convenience stores in 13 states in the Greater Midwest.

“The closing of this transaction creates a best-in-class convenience-store network across the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, growing Maverik’s footprint to more than 800 stores in 20 states with approximately 14,000 team members,” Maverik said.

• Maverik is No. 21 on CSP's 2023 Top 202 list of the largest c-store chains in the country. Kum & Go is No. 22.

Maverik is a brand that has positioned itself as a prime destination for people engaged in outdoor activities. Its tagline is “Adventure’s First Stop.” Kum & Go uses what on its website it calls its “quirky moniker,” a double entendre, as “a promise to serve customers quickly and efficiently” but also as a fun, cool vibe to create some brand buzz.

Kum & Go shoppers come from less-affluent rural and small-town households, while Maverik customers are more likely to be wealthy or upper-middle-class suburbanites, according to traffic data analysis firm Placer.ai, Santa Cruz, California.

The big question emerging from the acquisition is will Maverik maintain the separate brands, convert all of its stores to one of the brands or implement a less binary strategy that preserves both brands depending on the market?

For now, Maverik has said it will rebrand some Kum & Go stores starting in January. The company is still deciding on whether to rebrand other Kum & Go locations, Chuck Maggelet, Maverik’s CEO and “chief adventure guide,” who will lead the combined organization, told the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) in August. About a third of Kum & Go stores are in areas where Maverik already has a strong presence, he said.

“In Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming, starting this January, we’ll be working to convert those stores to Maveriks,” he said.

Regarding the rest of the chain, Maggelet said, “Right now, we think we can bring a lot of what’s really good about Maverik into the Kum & Go world without necessarily rebranding and will continue to evaluate future changes.”

Going into 2024, which branding strategy will prevail?

bp added another major U.S. brand to its portfolio in 2023, further extending the oil company’s reach in retail.

In May, bp Products North America Inc.  completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of TravelCenters of America Inc. The acquisition marks “a milestone for the U.S. in the growth of bp’s strategic convenience and mobility business,” the company said. It took full ownership of the Louisville, Kentucky-based Thorntons c-store chain in 2021.

TravelCenters of America is a nationwide operator and franchisor of the TA, Petro Stopping Centers and TA Express travel center brands. bp is keeping the brands.

bp beat out Arko Corp., the parent company of GPM Investments Inc., Richmond, Virginia, for the acquisition of TravelCenters of America

The acquisition adds a network of about 280 locations on major highways. It almost doubles bp’s global convenience gross margin; brings growth opportunities for four of bp’s five transition growth engines, including electric-vehicle (EV) charging via bp pulse, convenience, biofuels/renewable natural gas (RNG) and, later, hydrogen; and adds earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) immediately, expected to grow to around $800 million by 2025, the company said.

bp will maintain TravelCenters of America as a “fourth business engine,” with the other three being U.S. Mobility (the jobber and dealer branded business), Mexico Mobility and U.S. Convenience, which includes the ampm and Thorntons convenience-store chains.

“TA is a little different business from our retail operating organization,” Greg Franks, senior vice president of mobility and convenience for the Americas, told CSP. “It has some pieces in it, for example the truck-maintenance business, that are not core competencies to our U.S. Convenience business, … so we’re going to continue with that as a fourth business engine.”

• bp is No. 7 and TravelCenters of America is No. 29 on CSP's 2023 Top 202 ranking of the largest U.S. c-store chains by store count. 

London-based bp has more than 1,225 company-owned and -operated c-store sites in the United States. The company’s U.S. headquarters is in Chicago.

A new c-store industry entrant scored big in 2023.

In October, gas station and convenience-store company SQRL acquired 210 c-stores in several states from an unnamed seller. The transaction puts the Little Rock, Arkansas-based company among the top 25 chains in the country, with approximately 350 locations across 14 states.

The company also did not disclose the transaction price. A SQRL spokesperson confirmed for CSP that the purchase was from a single seller, whom she declined to name.

Real-estate investment trust (REIT) Blue Owl Capital, New York, sold the locations, formerly leased to Mountain Express Oil, to SQRL, a source told CSP.

Mountain Express, Acworth, Georgia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March in an attempt to reorganize the company. After it missed payments to gasoline suppliers, which forced some operators to close their fuel centers, travel centers and convenience stores, Judge David Jones, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Texas, terminated all of Mountain Express’s real estate leases. In a series of court orders, the judge converted the filing from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, directing Mountain Express to liquidate its assets. The court rejected a $49 million bid from Arko, parent company of retailer GPM Investments, Richmond, Virginia.

Compañía de Petróleos de Chile S.A. (COPEC), a subsidiary of holding company Empresas Copec S.A., Santiago, Chile, in 2023 exited the U.S. convenience-store market it entered about seven years ago when it entered into a deal with Delek U.S. Holdings Inc., Brentwood, Tennessee to acquire Mapco Express Inc. for $535 million.

In November, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. completed a transaction with COPEC for the acquisition of 112 company-operated fuel and convenience Mapco retail sites. At the same time, Majors Management completed the acquisition of 192 Mapco-branded convenience stores in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky. The deal also includes Mapco’s wholesale fuel division, loyalty program, brand and other intellectual property.

• Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2, Mapco is No. 27 and Majors Management is No. 118on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by size.

Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard’s network includes more than 7,100 stores in the United States, primarily under the Circle K and Holiday Stationstores banners, and approximately 2,100 in Canada under the Circle K, Mac’s and Couche-Tard banners.

Lawrenceville, Georgia-based Majors Management owns, develops and operates c-stores and distributes branded and unbranded motor fuels to more than 1,400 c-stores.

Casey’s General Stores Inc. expanded its geographic footprint through a series of acquisitions.

In March, Casey’s acquired and has rebranded five DeliMart convenience stores in the Iowa City, Iowa, area.

In June, Casey’s began to integrate 26 Minit Mart convenience stores in the Kansas City, Missouri, area that it acquired earlier in the year from EG Group Ltd., Blackburn, United Kingdom.

EG Group acquired 225 Minit Mart locations from Westlake, Ohio-based TravelCenters of America for approximately $330.8 million, adding to its EG America portfolio that included former Kroger c-stores and the Cumberland Farms chain, among others.

In August, Casey’s agreed to acquire 63 convenience stores from EG America, Westborough, Massachusetts. The stores are located in Kentucky and Tennessee, and operated under the Minit Mart and Certified Oil banners.

In November, Casey’s acquired W. Douglass Distributing Ltd.’s 22 Lone Star Food Stores, which will bring its convenience stores to Texas—the Lone Star State—the retailer’s 17th state.

The deal followed Douglass Distributing’s sale in late October of its wholesale businesses, consisting of propane, lubricant, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) and wholesale and commercial fuel businesses to Commerce City, Colorado-based Offen Petroleum LLC.

Casey’s is not fully rebranding the Lone Star stores in Texas that it purchased from W. Douglass Distributing Ltd. in November, CSP has learned.

“Lone Star was an existing company with some strong brand equity in Texas,” Katie Jerome, store integration marketing specialist for Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s, told CSP. “These stores will remain branded as Lone Star on the forecourt to keep that brand equity, but everything on the inside will reflect Casey’s, with all Casey’s products, but they will not have any prepared foods.”

“The Lone Star stores are high-quality stores located on great corners in fantastic markets,” said Darren Rebelez, president and CEO of Casey’s, when he announced the transaction. “These stores will serve as a springboard into the great state of Texas for Casey’s, while still located within our self-distribution network.”

In December, Casey's acquired 11 EZ Go c-stores from Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. eight months after the travel-center chain purchased the stores from Carey Johnson Oil Co. The stores are in Oklahoma and Nebraska, and Casey’s is rebranding the locations to the Casey's brand.

• Casey's General Stores Inc. is No. 3 on CSP's 2023 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by store count.

Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s has more than 2,500 convenience stores, now in 17 states, mostly in the greater Midwest.

In December, RaceTrac’s fuel supply and trading subsidiary, Metroplex Energy, closed on the largest acquisition in the Atlanta-based retailer’s history, buying iconic fuel brand Gulf Oil LLC.

As part of the transaction—first announced in July—RaceTrac acquired Gulf’s brand in the United States and Puerto Rico, all Gulf-branded distributor and license agreements including about 1,100 branded sites and exclusive rights to market fuel at 11 Massachusetts Turnpike service plaza locations.

Cumberland Farms, a previous owner of the Gulf brand, sold it in 2015 to Boston-based private-equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners.

• RaceTrac is No. 15 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of convenience store chains by store count.

RaceTrac has more than 570 locations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Tennessee.

CSP honored RaceTrac President Natalie Morhous as its 2023 Retail Leader of the Year.