La Crosse, Wisc.-based Kwik Trip has officially acquired Madison, Wisc.-based Stop-N-Go and its 36 Stop-N-Go branded convenience stores throughout southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Kwik Trip plans to continue to operate many of the acquired stores under the existing Stop-N-Go banner. Some of the larger stores will be remodeled and rebranded as Kwik Trip or Kwik Star in Illinois.
Stop-N-Go was founded in 1963 by Duane and Olympia Bowman with a focus on operating neighborhood grocery stores. In the 1980s, Stop-N-Go underwent a strategic initiative to transform the portfolio into a convenience store chain with a motor fuels offering, which resulted in the closing and selling of many locations, as well as the construction of many new facilities.
Today, under the leadership of Andrew Bowman, president and fourth generation of family ownership, and Kevin O’Brien, CFO, Stop-N-Go has continued to grow into one of the leading convenience store brands in southern Wisconsin.
“Selling our business was one of the most important decisions I’ve had to make not only for our family, but our co-workers too,” said Andrew Bowman, president of Stop-N-Go. “When we met with Matrix I knew they were the advisors for us, they came prepared. Matrix led us step by step through the process and made sure we were fully aware of how everything would flow. When we began talks with Kwik Trip we were able to present a ‘book’ to them that was clear and thorough. The professionals at Matrix are proven experts in our industry and negotiated a very strong contract. Overall, we couldn’t feel better about our choice in selecting Matrix and Kwik Trip.”
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. (Matrix), an independent investment bank provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Stop-N-Go, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction. The transaction was managed by Vance Saunders, Managing Director; Spencer Cavalier, Co-Head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group; and Martin McElroy, Associate.
Katrene Zelenovskiy, Daniel Kersey, and Bernard Kearney of Quarles & Brady LLP served as legal counsel to Stop-N-Go.
Founded in 1965 in Eau Claire, Wisc., Kwik Trip is one of the largest independently-held convenience store chains in the U.S. Today, Kwik Trip owns and operates over 750 stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa and employs over 30,000 coworkers.