Circle K Downsizing, Casey's General Stores Upsizing
Hundreds of Circle K convenience stores are hitting the market, and some of them are being acquired by Casey's General Stores Inc.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., parent company of Circle K, is selling 269 sites across 25 states in the United States and 37 sites across six provinces in Canada. Of 306 sites, 122 are fee-owned and 184 are leased, while 238 properties sell fuel and 68 are convenience only. The stores average roughly 2,600 square feet and sit on an average lot size of 29,500 square feet.
"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," said Alimentation Couche-Tard President and CEO Brian Hannasch.
In addition to those planned divestures, Couche-Tard reached an agreement to sell 49 locations in Oklahoma to Casey's General Stores. The $39-million transaction includes 46 leased properties and three owned properties.
These stores will be supplied by Casey's new distribution center in Joplin, Missouri, according to the Ankeny, Iowa-based retailer.
Casey's operates more than 2,200 c-stores in 16 states. It is set to add 94 retail stores and 79 dealer locations, as well as multiple parcels of real estate for future new store construction, when it seals its pending acquisition agreement for Buchanan Energy. Omaha, Nebraska-based Buchanan Energy, parent company of Bucky's Convenience, operates c-stores primarily in Illinois and Nebraska.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. acted as financial advisor to Couche-Tard on the transaction, which is expected to close by July 31.
"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," Hannasch added.
Casey’s has a $1.1 billion foodservice business and is the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States.
Alimentation Couche-Tard and Casey's are No. 10 and No. 38, respectively, on the PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food and consumables retailers in the United States.
