Circle K has acquired Wadsworth Oil Company of Clanton Inc.
Wadsworth was founded in Tuskegee, Ala., by William (Tamp) T. Wadsworth in the late 1920s as a PAN-AM fuel wholesaler. Jim Wadsworth, Tamp’s son, joined the family business in 1972, and shortly thereafter, purchased a small Amoco distributor in Clanton, Ala.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Jim led the company’s expansion from being primarily a wholesale supplier to a convenience retailer after building six additional retail locations. Throughout the 2000s, the company continued to build and acquire new stores throughout central Alabama that now all operate under “The Store” brand name.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. advised Wadsworth Oilon the sale. Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Wadsworth, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale proces, and negotiation of the purchase agreement. The transaction was managed by Spencer Cavalier, Co-Head of Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking; Andrew LoPresti, Vice President; and Nate Wah, Senior Analyst.
“Jim built one of the highest performing niche marketing chains that we have seen in the market,” said Cavalier. “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to advise him and his talented management team, led by Terry Carroll, through this successful sale process.”
Roy Crawford and Herbert H. West of Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas & O’Neal LLP served as legal counsel for Wadsworth.