Couche-Tard Presents $300M Stock Offering in Canada

LAVAL, Quebec -- Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. plans to raise $300 million by selling 6.35 million Class B shares of its stock. Specifically, the convenience store chain will sell the stock at $47.25 per share for gross proceeds of $300,037,500.

The parent of Circle K stores in the United States and Mac’s stores in Canada, said it will use the proceeds to pay down outstanding long-term debt. Couche-Tard's long-term debt has seen a substantial uptick recently, following its purchases of Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA and 27 Sun Mart stores in eastern Washington State.

The share offering, which is available to Canadian residents only, will be underwritten by National Bank Financial Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., UBS Securities Canada Inc. and HSBC Inc. The four underwriters have also been granted the right to purchase an additional 925,500 shares of Couche-Tard Class B stock at $47.25 per share. The underwriters must exercise that option within 30 days after the offer closes on or about Aug. 14.

Class B shares come with fewer voting rights for shareholders, compared to Class A shares of Couche-Tard stock that trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Class A shares were trading for $47.31 as of this morning.

Couche-Tard has a network of 5,803 North American c-stores, 4,216 of which sell motor fuel. Now that its Statoil acquisition is complete, the retailer also operates roughly 2,300 c-stores in Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltics and Russia.

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