A joint venture entity between Fortress Investment Group and a subsidiary of Phillips 66 Co. have acquired Pester Marketing Co., dba Alta Convenience.
For nearly 65 years, the Pester name, and more recently Alta Convenience, has been a leader in petroleum marketing and convenience retailing throughout the Rocky Mountain, Southwest and Midwest regions of the U.S.
The ownership group originally acquired Pester’s 47 company-operated stores in May 2016 as a spin-off from World Fuel Services Corp. (WFS), after WFS’s purchase of Pester in September 2015.
WFS retained the non-company-operated store business units. In January 2018, under the guidance of Pester’s President and CEO, Richard Spresser, the acquisitions of Western Convenience and Kwik Stop were consummated and increased the company’s store count to over 100.
Post-closing, senior executive management, including Richard Spresser and Monte McGilvray, CFO, will continue to lead the company.
Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc. provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Pester, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the purchase agreement. The transaction was managed by Spencer Cavalier, co-head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Group; Sean Dooley, director; and Martin McElroy, associate.
“It is very special to have advised Pester on the sale of the Company for a second time,” said Cavalier. “The current ownership group and management team, which was led by CEO Rich Spresser during both transactions, have grown and significantly improved the chain. We look forward to watching the company continue to grow under its new ownership.”
” … While it was time for the current shareholders to monetize their investment, we look forward to seeing Pester grow with Rich’s further stewardship under the new ownership of Fortress and Phillips 66,” said Sam Youngblood, general partner and board chairman. “I am excited to see the businesses continue with such well-respected organizations.”
Christopher Sackett and Jonathan Napier of BrownWinick, P.L.C. served as legal counsel for Pester.
