Northern Tier Retail acquires 13 convenience stores from Croix.
Croix Oil Co. has successfully closed on the sale of its convenience retailing assets to Northern Tier Retail, LLC (d/b/a SuperAmerica and Tesoro), a subsidiary of Andeavor, and its wholesale fuel assets to D & M Oil LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Molo Petroleum LLC.
The convenience retailing assets consist of all 13 of Croix’s company-operated locations. The wholesale motor fuel assets acquired by D & M Oil LLC consist of five dealer and three commissioned sites and approximately 70 supply contracts.
Headquartered in Stillwater, Minn., Croix is a leading Minnesota and western Wisconsin petroleum marketer with operations primarily in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. Croix is a fuel distributor for BP, ExxonMobil, and Marathon and is a SuperAmerica and Circle K franchisee.
Croix’s roots date back to the John J. Kilty Co. that began operations in the late 1800s as a coal company. In 1964, John Ogren purchased the company and renamed it the Kilty-Ogren Petroleum Co. In the 1960s, their primary business consisted of bulk fuel and heating oil sales and operated a single service station. In 1972, the company changed its name to Croix Oil Co. and expanded into various related businesses, including trucking, commercial and industrial fuels, lubricants, branded and unbranded retail fuels supply, convenience store operations, and real estate (focusing primarily on petroleum retail properties).
In 1995, John’s son, Mark Ogren, became president of the Company and over the last 20 years, Croix Oil Co. has refocused its business on the retail and wholesale distribution of motor fuels.
Croix has grown rapidly since the early 2000s through single site acquisitions, new-to-industry builds, and the acquisition of approximately one third of BP’s stations in the Twin Cities when BP divested its assets in 2006.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Croix, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction.
Ogren commented, “We are confident that our dedicated employees and loyal customers will be well taken care of by Molo Petroleum LLC and Andeavor. Matrix did a fantastic job for us and I am very thankful for their professionalism throughout the entire process. Their thoroughness and attention to detail was extremely impressive.”
The transaction was managed by John Underwood, managing director and Andrew LoPresti, senior associate. Thomas Kelso, managing director and Head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy and Convenience Retail Group, also advised on the transaction.
Underwood added, “It has been a pleasure working with Mark and his team, and we sincerely appreciate the trust that he put in Matrix. We are pleased that the two transactions had a successful outcome and achieved the goals that Mark had envisioned at the beginning of the sale process.”
Tammera Diehm and James Dierking of Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. served as legal counsel for Croix.
