Nearly four dozen retail gas sites in Atlantic Canada will be sold as part of an acquisition by a Quebec-based company.
Couche-Tard, which operates Circle K and Mac’s convenience stores in Canada, announced plans last year to acquire the Wilsons network of gas stations.
But the Competition Bureau raised concerns that the deal would “likely lessen or prevent competition” in the supply of retail gasoline in some markets.
To resolve the concerns of the Competition Bureau, Couche-Tard has agreed to sell 46 Wilsons sites and supply agreements, and one Couche-Tard gas station in the following markets:
- New Brunswick: Bouctouche, Cap Pele, Oak Bay-St-Stephen, Quispamsis, Sackville, Saint John, Saint-Antoine, Shediac, St-Ignace, Sussex, Utopia-Saint George-Pennfield, and Waasis.
- Nova Scotia: Barrington Passage, Bedford, Bridgewater, Dartmouth, Digby, Elmsdale-Enfield, Halifax, Lower Sackville, Lunenburg, Mt. Uniacke, Sydney, Truro, Upper Tantallon, West Amherst, and Westville.
- Prince Edward Island: Stratford – Charlottetown and Summerside.
- Newfoundland and Labrador: Gander.
The buyer, or buyers, of the sites will have to be approved by the Commissioner of Competition.
“The Commissioner is satisfied that this agreement addresses the competition issues likely to result from the proposed transaction,” the Competition Bureau said in a statement on Tuesday.
Wilsons is an independent network of close to 80 convenience and retail stores spread out across all four Atlantic Canadian provinces. Those stores operate under the Esso, Wilsons Gas Stops, and Go! Store brands.
Along with the 80 or so convenience stores, the Couche-Tard purchase includes 147 dealer locations (of which two are corporately owned), and a marine fuel terminal in Halifax.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is the second-largest convenience store operator in North America and has operations around the globe. Including its Mac’s and Circle K stores in Canada, the company operates more than 14,200 stores in 26 countries.
In 2008, the company signed a deal with Irving Oil Inc. to operate Circle K convenience stores out of Irving’s gas stations.
With files from Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
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