Dive Brief:
- Casey’s General Stores has agreed to acquire 63 convenience stores from EG America, the U.S. division of U.K. retailer EG Group, for an undisclosed amount, according to a Tuesday announcement.
- The stores are located in Kentucky and Tennessee, and operate under EG Group’s Minit Mart and Certified Oil banners. The deal is expected to close later this year, with Casey’s to retain the impacted employees at each store.
- This marks the second time this year EG and Casey’s have made a deal. In March, EG America sold 26 Minit Mart locations in Kansas City, Missouri, to the Iowa-based retailer for $48 million.
Dive Insight:
Once this deal closes, Casey’s will have purchased 89 EG America-owned stores this year between the two acquisitions. Both have come as EG America divests more than 400 locations in the U.S. as part of its $1.5 billion sale-leaseback agreement with Realty Income Corp.
Selling these 63 locations represents an “important step” in the company’s deleveraging strategy, Zuber Issa, co-founder and co-CEO of EG Group, said in the announcement.
“EG Group is pleased to have found a new home for some of our Certified Oil and Minit Mart portfolio,” Issa said. “This divestment will enable both parties to execute their strategic plans, respectively.”
For Casey’s, the deal furthers its goal to add 350 more stores to its network by 2026, President and CEO Darren Rebelez said in the announcement.
“This opportunity is an excellent strategic fit as we look to add locations in Kentucky and Tennessee, which are both within our existing distribution footprint,” Rebelez said. “We look forward to serving more guests in these markets and welcoming the team members from this transaction into the Casey’s family.”
Blackburn, U.K.-based EG Group currently has more than 6,600 c-stores across the U.S., U.K. and Ireland, Europe and Australia.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s operates more than 2,500 c-stores in 16 states.
