Casey's Picks Up 26 Minit Mart Locations

ANKENY, Iowa — Casey's General Stores Inc. is growing its footprint in the Kansas City, Mo., market with the acquisition of 26 Minit Mart stores from EG America for $48 million.

The Midwest-based retailer was recently revealed as the previously unknown buyer of the stores, several months after EG Group included news of the sale in its full-year earnings report.

The deal more than triples Casey's previous store count of 12 convenience stores in Kansas City. Additional Casey's stores are located in surrounding suburbs.

Plans for the acquired stores are still in development, a company spokesperson told KSHB.

[Read more: Casey's CEO Reflects on Three-Year Strategic Plan]

EG Group announced in March that it had sold the 26 "noncore" Minit Marts, which made up nearly 12 percent of its total Minit Mart assets. That news came just days after Blackburn, U.K.-based EG Group announced a sale-leaseback on a portfolio of 415 sites to Realty Income Corp. for gross consideration of approximately $1.5 billion.

The full Minit Mart portfolio has been owned by EG Group since late 2018, when the company purchased the 225 standalone c-stores, one standalone restaurant, five land parcels and other related assets for $330.8 million from TravelCenters of America Inc. It marked EG Group's first major acquisition since entering the United States through a $2.15-billion acquisition of The Kroger Co.'s c-store portfolio.

The 26 stores' new owner is approaching the end of a three-year strategic plan that included the acceleration of unit growth as a central pillar. Casey's President and CEO Darren Rebelez noted during the company's recent earnings call that its investment in a standalone mergers and acquisitions team "drove record growth" over the past three years.

Casey's will lay out its next three-year strategic plan during an Investor Day on June 27.

Ankeny-based Casey's operates 2,521 convenience stores. Founded more than 50 years ago, the company has grown to become the third-largest convenience store retailer and the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States.