ORLANDO, Fla. -- Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.'s subsidiary Circle K Stores Inc. has closed on its acquisition of the assets of Orlando, Fla.-based Florida Oil Holdings LLC. The deal consists of 29 directly owned convenience stores with gas stations in the greater Orlando area.

"We made the very difficult decision to exit the Orlando market so that we could more effectively concentrate our efforts on growing our business in the Atlanta area," explained Russ Scaramella, Florida Oil's managing member. "I am confident that Couche-Tard will be an excellent successor and that these will be well-performing stores for them as they expand their brand in central Florida. We wish them well and thank them for the manner in which they conducted the transaction."

Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Florida Oil, which included valuation advisory, transaction structuring, marketing of the assets and negotiation of the purchase agreement. The transaction was overseen by Tom Kelso, managing director and head of the Matrix Energy & Multi-Site Retail Group, and managed by vice presidents John Underwood and Vance Saunders.

"We greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide these services to Russ and his team, and we are pleased for the great outcome for Florida Oil," Underwood said. "We also appreciate the professionalism shown by the team at Circle K."

There are more than 3,300 Circle K stores across the United States and in more than 4,000 international locations.

"This is a great opportunity for the Florida division to strengthen our market share in the Orlando market," David Morgan, vice president of operations for Couche-Tard's Florida division, said earlier this month when the deal was first announced. "The assets are very high quality and are great locations. I am very confident the assets and team will make an immediate positive contribution to the corporation. This transaction would bring the company-operated store count to 406."