Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. on Thursday announced to acquire some of retails assets of French energy company TotalEnergies for 3.1 billion euros to be paid in cash.
"The purchase price for this proposed transaction, to be paid in cash, is approximately €3.1 billion on a cash-free, debt-free basis, subject to customary closing adjustments," the Canadian company said in a statement.
The proposed acquisition would comprise 100 percent of TotalEnergies retail assets in Germany and the Netherlands as well as a 60 percent controlling interest in the Belgium and Luxembourg entities. "The proposed acquisition will be submitted to the relevant employee representative bodies and remains subject to customary regulatory approvals," the statement added.
Brian Hannasch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alimentation Couche-Tard said, "We are excited to welcome the TotalEnergies employees and stores into the Couche-Tard family. As we learned more about their business, it became clear that we share the same customer-centric approach, values, and focus on an engaged workforce. We have deep respect for its operations, management, and people as well as great confidence that by joining forces together, we will build a winning global retail operation in the region."
"We see this as a strong geographical fit with our existing European network, which will allow us to grow together in some of Europe's strongest economies and move forward in our vision to become the world's preferred destination for convenience and mobility," Hannasch added.
The company said that it plans to fund the deal with available cash along with existing and credit facilities and new debt. The proposed transaction is expected to be completed before the end of calendar year 2023.
Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, said, "In Europe, the transformation of mobility is changing the way customers use service stations. This deep trend means that new services and new activities need to be developed, notably in the stores. Service stations must expand from just selling fuel to become full-fledged service hubs. For this reason, TotalEnergies has decided to partner with Couche-Tard and tap into its recognized expertise in operating convenience stores in service stations. We are delighted that Couche-Tard will apply all of its know-how in these 2,200 service stations in Western Europe and join forces with us in Belgium and Luxembourg, where we are the market leader. I am certain that this win-win forward-looking move will be a great success."
