CrossAmerica to Acquire 31 Holiday C-stores in Minnesota & Wisconsin

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — CrossAmerica Partners LP is boosting its presence in the Midwest with a 31-store acquisition deal. 

The company entered into a definitive agreement with SSG Corp. to acquire franchise Holiday Stationstores locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The transaction carries a $48.5-million price tag.

Of the 31 company-operated stores, 28 are in Wisconsin and the remaining three are in Minnesota. Twenty-seven of the sites are owned-fee simple locations.  

According to CrossAmerica, for the 12-month period ended Aug. 31, the Holiday sites sold approximately 26.5 million gallons of motor fuel and had approximately $44 million in inside sales.

The transaction will increase CrossAmerica's holdings in the upper Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota by about half, a company spokeswoman told CSNews Online. Currently, CrossAmerica has 60 company-operated locations under the FreedomValu and SuperAmerica banners, and four dealer-operated FreedomValu locations. 

"We are delighted to acquire this great network of stores and become a Holiday Stationstores franchisee," CrossAmerica President Jeremy Bergeron said. "This acquisition complements our acquisition of Erickson Oil Products made in early 2015 and further solidifies CrossAmerica's commitment to the Minnesota and Wisconsin region."

In February, CrossAmerica acquired Erickson Oil Products Inc. and certain related assets for $85 million. Hudson, Wis.-based Erickson operated 64 convenience stores in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and South Dakota, with a concentration in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region. The stores operate primarily under Erickson's own proprietary store brand, Freedom Valu, as CSNews Online previously reported.

At the time the deal closed, CrossAmerica said it intended to operate the stores within the partnership, but transfer the operation of certain sites over time to CST Brands Inc., parent company of its general partner. 

The company has not set any definitive plans for the soon-to-be-acquired Holiday Stationstores sites.

"We are excited to begin our relationship with Holiday Stationstores and, like all our strategic relationships, we will evaluate the properties and make decisions down the road on how they will operate," the spokeswoman told CSNews Online.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and expected to close in the first quarter. CrossAmerica expects the acquisition to be accretive to distributable cash flow to limited partners.

"We look forward to working together with CrossAmerica on finalizing this transaction," said Burt Nordstrand, founder and CEO of SSG Corp. "The strength of SSG has always been our employees and we are grateful to them for their many years of loyal service. SSG was the first self-service gasoline company in our area and operated under the company-owned 'Auto Stop' brand for the first 32 years and under the Holiday franchise brand for the last 13 years."

Allentown-based CrossAmerica Partners LP is a leading wholesale distributor of motor fuels and owner and lessee of real estate used in the retail distribution of motor fuels. Its general partner, CrossAmerica GP LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of CST Brands Inc.

Formed in 2012, CrossAmerica Partners is a distributor of branded and unbranded petroleum for motor vehicles in the United States and distributes fuel to more than 1,200 locations and owns or leases more than 800 sites. Its geographic footprint covers 25 states.

Bloomington, Minn.-based Holiday Stationstores has 500 stores throughout 10 states in the Northern Tier region of the United States: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Alaska. 

SSG Corp., based in Hudson, Wis., is a family-owned company operating convenience food stores, gasoline stations and liquor stores in northwestern Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota.