Dive Brief:

• Convenience retailer Majors Management LLC has agreed to acquire MAPCO Express from Chilean holding company Copec Inc. for an undisclosed amount, according to a Thursday announcement.
• The deal is contingent on a separate transaction to sell 112 MAPCO sites to Alimentation Couche-Tard, along with a logistics fleet, according to a separate announcement from Couche-Tard.
• This continues a busy past few months for Majors, which has now acquired over 350 c-stores in the U.S. since November 2022, and for Couche-Tard, which recently acquired Big Red Stores in Arkansas.

Dive Insight:

For Majors, the deal includes the MAPCO brand and loyalty program, while Couche-Tard will take over 112 company-operated locations predominantly across Tennessee and Alabama, with locations in Georgia and Kentucky as well, according to the announcement. Couche-Tard said it will also gain “surplus property” and a logistics fleet in the deal.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of calendar year 2023, subject to standard regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

"We are honored to maintain and grow the MAPCO brand, and we are excited to serve MAPCO’s customers and uphold and build upon the culture of operational excellence at MAPCO,” Ben Smith, president of Majors Management, said in the announcement.

Majors has undergone a meteoric rise in the c-store space over the past few years. The retailer made five acquisitions in 2022 and, with its latest, will have completed 19 deals since 2019, according to a previous announcement.

For Couche-Tard, this not only is the retailer’s third acquisition over the past couple months, but its second in the Southeast, where it continues to grow its footprint. In late February, Couche-Tard acquired the 45-location Big Red Stores chain in Arkansas, and began rebranding those sites just a few weeks ago. Couche-Tard also acquired over 2,000 European stores in March from oil giant TotalEnergies for $3.3 billion.

"We are delighted to add MAPCO’s high-quality sites to our footprint in the Southeastern U.S.," Alex Miller, Couche-Tard's chief operating officer, said in the announcement.

MAPCO’s sale announcement continues the red-hot mergers-and-acquisitions trend that has gripped the convenience store industry in 2023. Recent weeks have seen the sale of Kum & Go, TravelCenters of America and Cox Oil Co.

Franklin, Tennessee-based MAPCO operates more than 300 stores in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi.

Lawrenceville, Georgia-based Majors and its affiliates supply fuel to over 1,300 c-stores in the U.S. The company partners with fuel brands such as BP, Shell, Chevron, Exxon, Marathon, Citgo, Mobil, Texaco, Valero, Phillips, Sunoco, 76, and Alon.