Arko to buy Uncle’s convenience stores for $140M

Arko Corp., a Fortune 500 holding company for Henrico County-based convenience store chain GPM Investments LLC, announced Wednesday it has agreed to acquire the retail, wholesale and fleet fueling assets of Texas-based WTG Fuels Holdings LLC, the owner of Uncle’s convenience stores and Gascard fleet fueling operations.

The $140.4 million acquisition, plus the value of inventory, introduces Arko to Texas, where there are 24 company-operated Uncle’s stores across the western region of the state. The deal also includes WTG’s 57 proprietary Gascard-branded fleet fueling sites and 52 private sites. Gascard’s locations are in West Texas, South Texas and Eastern New Mexico.

“We are committed to creating value for our stockholders with a systematic, convenience-store focused long-term growth strategy focused on disciplined and accretive transactions,” Arko Chairman, President and CEO Arie Kotler said in a statement. “We believe that we add significant value to acquisitions with our excellent integration capacity, which has helped accelerate the pace of dealmaking, which in turn improves our business, creates more efficiencies, and funds future growth —  a virtuous cycle that we believe sets Arko apart as a leading convenience store operator and acquirer of choice. Adding these assets to our family of community brands is perfectly aligned with Arko’s strategy, and we look forward to welcoming WTG employees to our company.”

The acquisition is the company’s fourth in 2022. In October, Arko entered into an agreement to acquire Pride Convenience Holdings LLC.

Combined, WTG, Pride, and TEG are expected to grow Arko’s base of convenience stores by approximately 15%, adding more than 200 retail stores and a pipeline of new build opportunities, according to a news release from Arko.

This acquisition would bring Arko’s fleet from 183 sites at the end of the third quarter to more than 290 upon closing. WTG sold about 85 million gallons of of gas in fiscal 2021.

For the purchase of WTG, Arko plans to finance about $25.4 million of the transaction. Oak Street Real Estate Capital, a division of Blue Owl Capital, expects to fund the remaining $115 million as part of a $1.15 billion agreement announced in May 2021. Oak Street plans to acquire the real estate assets of WTG as part of the transaction, and Arko expects to lease them back from Oak Street.

Arko Corp. made the Fortune 500 list for the first time in 2022, ranking No. 498.