Couche-Tard to buy 2,000 service stations from French oil firm

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. says it has signed a 3.1 billion (4.5 billion Cdn) deal to acquire more than 2,000 service stations from French oil giant TotalEnergies SE.

The massive deal would add 2,200 retail sites to the Laval, Que.-basedcompany's network, including all of TotalEnergies' retail assets in Germany and the Netherlands along with a 60 per cent controlling interest in its Belgium and Luxembourg entities.

In an investor presentation Thursday, Alimentation Couche-Tard said that with the proposed acquisition, its Circle K brand which is already present in 24 countries and territories will move from serving a population of 70 million people to 185 million people.

"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," said Brian Hannasch, CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard in a news release.

The convenience store and gas station operatorwill take over include 2,193 service stations. More than half are in Germany, but Couche-Tard will also own 566 in Belgium, 387 in the Netherlands and 45 in Luxembourg.

The deal is subject to approvals from regulators and must go through an employee consultation process but is expected to close before the end of the year.

Couche-Tard tried to buy French grocer Carrefour SA in 2021, but decided to drop the bid when the French government opposed the deal.