Situation
Hutchinson Oil Company, Inc. (“Hutchinson” or the “Company”), operated a large, modern convenience store chain of 20+ high-volume locations, and a delivered fuels business supplying commercial refined fuels to a diverse customer base throughout Oklahoma, southwest Kansas, and surrounding states.

The Company was founded in 1969 by Ross Hutchinson. In the 1990s, his son, David Hutchinson, assumed the role of President. David grew the Company’s “Hutch’s” brand by building large, attractive convenience stores and travel centers with best-in-class amenities catering to both passenger vehicles and professional drivers. David was also instrumental in creating the Company’s top-tier foodservice program, “Hutch’s Deli”.

Matrix was retained to perform a valuation of the convenience stores and delivered fuels business, including the possibility of a break-up sale of each division to separate buyers.

Ultimately, the shareholders decided to exit both business lines in order to diversify their wealth and focus on other ventures.

Objective
To customize, execute, and complete a confidential sale process in a way that would allow the shareholders to realize maximum after-tax value from the sale of the Company.

Solution
Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services, which included valuation advisory, marketing of the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transactions.

Matrix valued each segment of the business separately based on division-level economics and the pool of potential buyers that would likely compete for the assets of each division as well as the entire enterprise.

The sale process included regional and national convenience store operators, petroleum marketers, and commercial refined fuels distributors.

Matrix executed a bifurcated sale process to solicit offers for the entire company and for each operating division on a standalone basis.

Multiple competitive offers were received, and it was determined that maximum value for the assets could be achieved by selling the assets in two groups: (i) c-stores and (ii) the delivered fuels business. The first transaction occurred in December 2024, whereby the delivered fuels business was sold to Hampel Oil Distributors, Inc. The second transaction occurred in January 2025, whereby the convenience retail business was sold to Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. d/b/a Circle K Stores (TSX: ATD).

Matrix assisted in the negotiation and closing of the two separate transactions, including the purchase agreements and other transaction documents as well as the buyer due diligence processes.