Joint Venture Entity Buys Alta Convenience

DENVER — Alta Convenience is changing hands.

Pester Marketing Co., which does business as Alta Convenience, sold to a joint venture entity between Fortress Investment Group LLC and a subsidiary of Phillips 66 Co. Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. advised Denver-based Pester Marketing in the transaction.

For nearly 65 years, the Pester name, and more recently Alta Convenience, has been a leader in petroleum marketing and convenience retailing throughout the Rocky Mountain, Southwest and Midwest regions of the United States, according to Matrix.

The ownership group originally acquired Pester's 47 company-operated stores in May 2016 as a spin-off from World Fuel Services Corp. (WFS) after WFS' purchase of Pester in September 2015. WFS retained the non company-operated store business units.

In January 2018, under the guidance of Pester's President and CEO Richard Spresser, the company acquired Western Convenience Store Inc. and Kwik Stop. The deals increased the company's store count to more than 100.

Post-closing, senior executive management, including Spresser and Monte McGilvray, chief financial officer, will continue to lead the company.

"Working with the team at Matrix on the sale process, and with Rich Spresser over the past several years, has been a very positive experience. While it was time for the current shareholders to monetize their investment, we look forward to seeing Pester grow with Rich's further stewardship under the new ownership of Fortress and Phillips 66. I am excited to see the businesses continue with such well-respected organizations," said Sam Youngblood, general partner and board chairman.

Christopher Sackett and Jonathan Napier of BrownWinick plc served as legal counsel for Pester.