Charleston, S.C.-based Refuel has finalized its acquisition of Indianola, Miss.-based Double Quick Inc.’s c-store 48 locations.
Refuel is a portfolio company of First Reserve, a global private equity investment firm exclusively focused on energy. The transaction represents the fifth acquisition for Refuel since establishing its partnership with First Reserve in May 2019, and brings the total company operated store count to 83 stores.
Double Quick was founded in 1983 by current Managing Partners Tom Gresham and Bill McPherson. In addition to its 48 convenience stores, 34 of which have proprietary and branded foodservice concepts, the company operates five stand-alone quick-serve restaurants (QSR), Church’s Chicken and Krystal in Mississippi and Arkansas.
“Bill and I would first like to thank the awesome Double Quick team members who, over the last 36 plus years, adopted our core values of ‘Learn, Be Honest, Work Smart Together and Have Fun,’ making Double Quick what it is today,” said Gresham, who is also president.
In 1983, Double Quick opened its first convenience store in Greenville, Miss., and soon after opened two additional locations. The following year, Double Quick acquired 16 former Mr. Quick stores. The acquisition established Double Quick as a notable player in the Mississippi Delta convenience store market. Under the the leadership of Gresham and McPherson, Double Quick established its own proprietary hot food offerings in 1984 which eventually became known as Hot N’ Crispy Chicken & Seafood.
Double Quick saw an opportunity in the early 1990s to bring branded fast food to its marketing platform and entered into a partnership with Church’s Chicken. As the partnership with Church’s grew, Double Quick looked for other opportunities to expand its food offerings by also partnering with Krystal restaurants in 1995.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., an independent investment bank, provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Double Quick. Michael Noble, David Roth and David Rutter of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP served as legal counsel.
“Tom and I want to thank our CFO Barry Schuster, for her support and guidance, Matrix for their financial advisory and transactional expertise, and the Bradley law firm for their legal guidance and professionalism throughout this entire process,” said McPherson.
