Dive Brief:

• CrossAmerica Partners has finalized its $27.5 million acquisition of fuel wholesaler Community Service Stations, which includes wholesale fuel supply contracts to about 40 locations, according to a press release.
• The deal — which includes 38 dealer-owned locations and two commission locations (one fee-based and one lease) — was agreed upon in August but didn’t close until now. 
• This marks CrossAmerica’s first acquisition of 2022 and its first since it acquired over 100 c-store locations from 7-Eleven in May 2021, which it has reaped numerous benefits from to date.

Dive Insight:

About 60 of the roughly 1,800 locations CrossAmerica supplies fuel to across the U.S. are located in Massachusetts, according to the company’s website. Acquiring the assets from Community Service Stations nearly doubles that.

“This acquisition expands our fuels business in the New England market with new dealers and strengthens our relationship with several of our major fuel supplier partners,” Charles Nifong, president and CEO of CrossAmerica Partners, said when the acquisition was first announced in August.

The deal also includes about 75 million gallons of fuel across the supply contracts, according to the announcement, as well as 35 subjobber accounts.

CrossAmerica has quietly made noise on the acquisition front, having now made three moves over the past few years, including this recent buy. In January 2020, the company bought the retail operations at 172 sites, as well as wholesale fuel distribution to 114 sites, for $36 million from entities affiliated with Joe Topper Jr. About a year and half later, CrossAmerica acquired 106 c-stores from 7-Eleven — its last acquisition until now — which played a big role in tripling its net earnings during Q3 2021.

On the retail side, CrossAmerica Partners operates 11 Joe’s Kwik Mart c-stores in Massachusetts, five of which are in the metropolitan Boston area. In total, CrossAmerica Partners has more than 250 c-stores across 10 states.

Founded in 1918, Framingham, Massachusetts-based Community Service Stations specializes in helping independent fuel and c-store retailers purchase new sites; sell and lease sites; rebuild current sites; finance improvements; manage sales and marketing efforts; and address environmental and regulatory issues, according to its website. Its branded fuel offerings include Mobil, Exxon, Gulf and Irving.