Monday, March 22, 2021
Casey’s Acquires 49 Circle K Stores in Oklahoma
Source: CStore Decisions
By Thomas MulloyPurchase is start of Couche-Tard’s planned selloff of an additional 306 US and Canadian stores by midyear, balanced by more strategic new builds and upgrades to existing properties.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores announced an agreement to acquire 49 stores throughout Oklahoma from Circle K Stores Inc. in an all-cash transaction for $39 million.
The transaction includes 46 leased properties and three owned properties, and is expected to close in the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2021. The stores will be supplied by the company’s new distribution center in Joplin, Mo.
Circle K’s Canadian parent company, Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard plans to sell 306 sites across its North American network, including 269 sites across 25 states in the U.S. and 37 sites across six Canadian provinces. The average store size is approximately 2,600 square feet and an average lot size of 29,500 square feet. Of the 306 sites, 238 properties sell fuel and 68 are convenience only. The company would like to finalize interested buyers by early May.
Couche-Tard President and CEO Brian Hannasch explained that the decision to divest select stores fits within the company’s network optimization strategy and follows a comprehensive and uniform network planning process that began in the Fall of 2020.
“Through this process, we have identified sites that no longer fit our strategic objectives, either from a brand perspective or from a regional scale perspective,” Hannasch said. “Concurrently, we have identified many opportunities to expand our footprint through new store builds and will continue to allocate capital to upgrade the size and scale of our locations, improve store layouts, and allow for the best utilization of our Fresh Food, Fast program as well as other initiatives which improve the customer journey.”
Casey’s General Stores operates more than 2,200 convenience stores in 16 states. The company has grown to become the fourth-largest convenience store retailer and the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States.
In the U.S., Canada-based Couche-Tard is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of the number of company-operated stores. In Europe, Couche-Tard is a leader in convenience store and road transportation fuel retail in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), as well as in Ireland, and has an important presence in Poland.
In addition, under licensing agreements, more than 2,220 stores are operated under the Circle K banner in 15 other countries and territories, which brings the worldwide total network to more than 14,220 stores.
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To see a list of convenience stores and gas stations for sale, click here.