The largest retail acquisition in CO-OP’s history happened on Tuesday.
Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) has agreed to purchase 181 Husky retail fuel sites across Western Canada for $264 million.
The acquisition includes gas bars, car washes and convenience stores.
CEO Scott Banda says that the transaction allows for more opportunities. “We have capacity at our refinery that we’re not utilizing right now, this transaction moves us closer to full utilization of the site.”
Growth was another factor in the decision according to Banda. “It’s about growing our system, it’s about growing our brand and filling in those geographical voids we do have at the retail level in particularly Alberta and BC and coupling that with our manufacturing facilities and our extensive distribution network.”
Talks of acquiring the Husky sites first began in 2019 according to VP of Finance Tony Van Burgsteden. He noted that after the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy market stalled like so many others around the world. Once the merger between Husky and Cenvous Energy took place in late 2020 and became official earlier this year, talks resumed for a possible acquisition by FCL. “Cenvous was obviously busy with a lot of activities associated with that merger and frankly the assets came back on the market late summer of 2021, so the last two or three months.” Van Burgsteden noted “Pretty rapid negotiations from that point forward.”
The acquisition of the Husky Fuel Sites are subject for approval from the Canadian Competition Bureau, which is expected sometime in 2022.