{"id":102138,"date":"2017-06-27T07:35:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T11:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/?p=102138\/"},"modified":"2017-06-27T07:43:51","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T11:43:51","slug":"couche-tard-obtains-approval-minus-70-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/couche-tard-obtains-approval-minus-70-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Couche-Tard Obtains Approval Minus 70 Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a week after the date predicted by DepQuebec<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for the Couche-Tard<\/a>-CST mega-transaction announcement (see article here<\/a>) and a few days after we published an article highlighting the real possibilities that Couche-Tard<\/a> had to divest some stores (see article here<\/a>), the announcement of the approval was finally made yesterday and the transaction will be officially ratified tomorrow.<\/p>\n

The result: In order to comply with US authorities, Couche-Tard<\/a> will have to divest 70 sites with gasoline in 8 US states.<\/p>\n

To do this, the Quebec depanneur giant has reached an agreement with Empire Petroleum Partners<\/a>\u00a0in which the latter will grab the excess sites.<\/p>\n

This portion of the agreement was definitely the most delicate, for had it not been for Empire<\/a>, Couche-Tard<\/a>\u00a0could have hardly divested all these scattered sites through a piece-by-piece type of sale. The terms of sale to\u00a0Empire<\/a>\u00a0must have been very enticing.<\/p>\n

Of the 1250 sites that were coveted, 70 divested ones remain a relatively small number (nearly 6%) but at about US $ 4 million per site, this is still close to US $ 300 million to be subtracted from the acquisition. It is also quite clear that Couche-Tard<\/a> has just reached or seriously approached its expansion limit in the southern region of the United States.<\/p>\n

However, divesting 70 sites (and even at a discount) remains a relatively low price considering the strategic importance of this transaction.<\/p>\n

Let’s recall that Couche-Tard<\/a>\u00a0is taking a giant step forward towards a leadership position in the American market, particularly in certain states, including Texas, where it had not a lot of stores (while CST originated from there, its headquarters being located in San Antonio).<\/p>\n

With its proven ability to consolidate operations, improve efficiencies and generate synergies, Couche-Tard<\/a> has gained a first-class network that provides superior volume and geographic distribution.<\/p>\n

Who knows if, one day, this network will not also be used to sell high-quality cannabis from Quebec? Perhaps that following this transaction, Couche-Tard<\/a> should now reaffect its lobby efforts towards economic ministries rather than Quebec’s public health authorities!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a week after the date predicted by DepQuebec\u00a0for the Couche-Tard-CST mega-transaction announcement (see article here) and a few days<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":102137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,1750],"tags":[881,818,265,743,1325,843,1337,842,1422],"class_list":["post-102138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsdep","category-profiles","tag-acquisition-en","tag-acquisition","tag-couche-tard-en","tag-cst","tag-empire-petroleum-en","tag-empire-petroleum","tag-ftc-en","tag-texas","tag-texas-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t