Susser Completes Town & Country Food Stores Acquisition

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Susser Holdings Corp. completed the acquisition of TCFS Holdings Inc., the parent company of San Angelo, Texas-based Town & Country Food Stores Inc., in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $359 million, plus payment of a $6 million tax benefit, the company reported.

"With the acquisition of Town & Country complete, Susser Holdings is now one of the largest convenience store operators in the Southwest, with more than 500 stores centered in some of the most rapidly growing markets in the country," said Sam L. Susser, president and chief executive officer of Susser Holdings. "This combination gives us greater scale, expands our footprint from South Texas and Oklahoma into West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, giving us more geographic diversity, and it also provides additional fill-in growth opportunities in these new markets."

"Town & Country is a highly profitable, well-run company, with quality store assets and many excellent people whom we are very pleased to welcome to the Susser organization. We anticipate that the process of integrating the two companies will be very straightforward. The Town & Country sites are expected to be re-branded to Stripes beginning in the second half of 2008.

"As previously announced, Alvin New, the former chief executive officer of Town & Country, is staying on as executive vice president at Susser Holdings and as president and chief executive officer of Susser's retail operations. Devin Bates, the former chief financial officer and chief information officer of Town & Country, is staying on as senior vice president and chief information officer at Susser Holdings," Susser said.

In connection with the acquisition, Susser entered into a new senior secured term loan facility of $105 million, which will be secured primarily by Town & Country's real estate, according to a company report.

The company also entered into a new $90 million senior secured revolving credit facility, replacing the existing $50 million facility, and executed a sale/leaseback agreement with National Retail Properties LP on 13 Town & Country locations for net proceeds of approximately $51 million, the company stated.

All Town & Country indebtedness was extinguished at closing, and Susser now has total debt outstanding of $390 million, approximately $11 million of which was funded under the new revolving credit facility, according to the company, which expects to have approximately $50 million of remaining borrowing capacity under the new revolving credit facility after giving effect to $28.4 million in outstanding standby letters of credit following the transaction.

More information on the transaction, including pro forma financial results for Town & Country, can be found in a filing made today on Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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