Couche-Tard Takes A Bite Out Of The Ultramar “Dépanneur du Coin” Banner
Last June, Couche-Tard finalized the acquisition of CST Brands — the largest in its history — comprised of a network of approximately 2,000 convenience stores and gas stations located in Canada and the United States (see previous articles here and here).
As for the Canadian portion of the network, which includes the 200 “Dépanneur du Coin” service stations and the 130 Dépan Express Ultramar in Quebec, it was to be resold in its entirety to Parkland Fuel Corporation, to avoid too much concentration.
At least, that’s what we thought, but it does not seem to be the case. Indeed, yesterday we passed by an Ultramar “Dépanneur du Coin” gas station in full conversion mode to a Couche-Tard!
According to the store employee, the service station changed its banner two weeks ago, on August 2nd.
We were under the impression, probably false, that to comply with the Canadian Competition Bureau, Couche-Tard had sold the entire “Dépanneur du Coin” and Dépan Express Canadian network to Parkland.
But by reading carefully the fine print of the most recent press releases, we came across the details of this complex acquisition and yes, it is said clearly that Couche-Tard retains certain stores in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes.
Here is what Parkland is buying from Couche-Tard (source: Couche-Tard):
- 100% of CST’s Commercial Cardlock business;
- 100% of CST’s Commercial and Home Energy business;
- Substantially all of CST’s Dealer and Commissioned Agents business;
- 159 of CST’s company-operated stores;
- CST’s Montréal corporate head office.
As a result of the transaction with Parkland, Couche-Tard will receive approximately CA$ 985 million and will be adding 157 company operated sites across its network in Québec, Atlantic Canada and Ontario.
As for what sites Couche-Tard decided to retain, according to what criteria and under what circumstances, this remains a mystery for now but we will soon discover which become Couche-Tards as they are converted.
The store featured in the photo below is part of the 157 new sites acquired by Couche-Tard, forcing once again DepQuébec to update its ranking and map and to work hard to simply catch up with the industry.
But someone, someday, will have to explain (because we are slow to understand) why the Couche-Tard Piedmont store has recently been converted into a SuperSoir (see article here) … it’s such a game of musical chairs!
