TravelCenters Completes Minit Mart Acquisition

WESTLAKE, Ohio – TravelCenters of America LLC (TA) completed its purchase of 31 Minit Mart convenience stores with gas stations. The Westlake, Ohio-based travel center operator announced this morning that the $67.9-million transaction is official.

Twenty-eight of the c-stores are located in Kentucky and three are in Tennessee. Twenty-seven of the stores include the ownership of land and buildings.

"The 31 c-stores TA has agreed to acquire are high-volume fuel locations with larger interior space for merchandise and food offerings than typical c-stores, and appear to have limited need for near-term capital investment," Thomas M. O'Brien, TA's president and CEO, said when first announcing the deal on Nov. 15.

In 2012, the 31 Minit Mart locations dispensed an aggregate of 38 million gallons of fuel.

O'Brien believes the newly acquired stores can achieve stabilized financial results for the parent company in short order.

"We expect TA may be able to realize synergies in purchasing and merchandising customer offerings at these c-stores, which may make the financial results, relative to the acquisition cost, similar to that expected for travel-center acquisitions," he said. "Nearly all of TA's existing travel centers currently offer gasoline for motorists and most of these c-stores' customer offerings are similar to the products and food services available at our highway travel centers."

TravelCenters of America LLC operates and franchises travel centers under the Travel Centers of America, TA, Petro Stopping Centers and Petro brand names. The locations offer diesel and gasoline fueling, restaurants, truck repair facilities, stores and other services. TA's nationwide business spans 42 states and Canada.