Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc will purchase smaller U.S. rival Pantry Inc for about $861 million, a deal that positions it as one of the top convenience store operators in North America.The deal will add about 1,500 stores to Couche-Tard's network, boosting its presence in the southeastern and Gulf Coast regions of the United States and making it almost as big as 7-Eleven, the world's largest convenience store operator.Couche-Tard's aggressive growth strategy was not surprising, given that the company made an unsuccessful hostile bid for Casey's General Stores Inc in 2010, said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores.The Canadian company bought Statoil Fuel and Retail in 2012 to gain a foothold in Europe.
Casey?s General Stores, Inc. (Casey?s) and its wholly owned subsidiaries operates convenience stores under the name Casey's General Store in 14 Midwestern states, primarily in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. Shares of CASY traded higher by 0.84% or $0.74/share to $88.50. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $64.12 and as high as $88.66. On average, 266788 shares of CASY exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 102925.
The Pantry, Inc. (Pantry) is an independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern United States. Shares of PTRY traded higher by 2.84% or $1.01/share to $36.53. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $12.30 and as high as $36.71. On average, 239722 shares of PTRY exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2882434.
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