Case Study: Matrix Announces the Successful Sale of Fastrac Markets, LLC

 

Situation:

  • Fastrac Markets, L.L.C. (“Fastrac” or the “Company”) was formed in October 1998, when three veterans, Lauren (Larry) Bull, Gerard (Gary) Shanley, and Richard (Rick) Clark, from the convenience store industry merged their respective companies with the goal of becoming the premier convenience retailer in Upstate New York, and at that time hired Tom Waddle to lead the Company to that goal. Upon completion of the merger, the newly formed Fastrac chain comprised 40 locations, many of which have since been razed and rebuilt or remodeled.
  • Headquartered in Syracuse, New York, Fastrac is the premier convenience retailer and petroleum marketer across its operating footprint in the Rochester-Syracuse-Albany region. Since founding the Company in 1998, management has focused on growing the Fastrac brand by building attractive fueling sites on expansive lots with large convenience stores which offer high-quality, made-to-order (MTO) foodservice and a full-line of competitively-priced traditional convenience merchandise.
  • In addition to the remodeling of many legacy sites, in the two decades since the Company’s founding, management has added 14 new-to-industry stores (NTIs).
  • The shareholders decided it was time to exit the industry to focus on other businesses and diversify family wealth.

Objective: To customize, execute, and complete a confidential sale process that would allow the Company’s shareholders to realize maximum after-tax value upon the sale of Fastrac, as well as the fuel transportation assets held in its subsidiary, Fastrac Transportation of New York, LLC

Solution:

  • Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Fastrac, which included valuation advisory, marketing of the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction.
  • Multiple competitive offers were received, and EG America LLC, a subsidiary of Blackburn, U.K.-based EG Group Limited, was ultimately selected as the acquirer.
  • Matrix assisted in the negotiation of the purchase agreement and coordinated the due diligence and closing process.
  • The transaction with EG America closed in July 2019.

About Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Group:

Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Group is recognized as the national leader in providing transactional advisory services to companies in the downstream energy and multi-site retail sectors including convenience retailing, petroleum marketing & distribution, propane distribution, heating oil distribution, lubricants distribution, petroleum transportation & logistics, terminals and bulk plants, car washes, food service and specialty retail. Team members are dedicated to these sectors and draw upon complementary experiences to provide advisory services to complete sophisticated merger and acquisition transactions, debt and equity capital raises, corporate restructurings, corporate valuations, and strategic planning engagements. Since its inception in 1997, this dedicated group has successfully completed over 225 engagements in these sectors with a total transaction value of more than $10 billion.