BALTIMORE, MD – March 11, 2013 – Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. (“Matrix”), together with Marshall & Stevens, Inc. (“Marshall & Stevens”), announce the successful establishment of Pester Marketing Company’s (“Pester” or “Company”) Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Pester established its ESOP in order to provide employees with another qualified, defined contribution benefit plan option to supplement its 401-k plan. Pester’s executive management team hopes that the establishment of the ESOP will incentivize employees to save more for retirement, serve to maintain low employee turnover, and further motivate employees working for a high growth company.
Founded in 1955 and headquartered in the Denver, Colorado suburb of Greenwood Village, Pester is an operator of fifty-seven (57) retail convenience stores, which trade as “Alta Convenience”. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Alta Fuels, LLC and Alta Transportation, LLC, the Company distributes and transports motor fuels and lubricants to wholesale, commercial and agricultural customers. Pester is one of the largest and most diversified privately-held convenience store retailers and petroleum marketing companies in the U.S. with a marketing territory that expands through Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and New Mexico.
Rich Spresser, President and CEO of Pester, commented, “We at Pester felt that the ESOP was the best option to use to not only reward our current long-term employees but all employees in the future. We hope to create a culture of employee ownership which will carry our company forward for many years to come. With the combination of Matrix and Marshall & Stevens guiding us through the process, we feel very excited about our ESOP and the benefit it will provide all of our employees.”
Matrix provided corporate finance and valuation advisory to Pester’s shareholders. Marshall & Stevens provided specialized advisory services to Pester’s shareholders including preliminary feasibility studies, ESOP design and formation consulting, transaction advisory assistance, a repurchase liability study and employee communications advice. Matrix’s Spencer Cavalier commented, “Pester’s establishment of an ESOP further aligns employee and shareholder interests and provides potential significant upside value to employee owners. Matrix is very appreciative of once again advising Pester shareholders, and we enjoyed working with Marshall & Stevens to effectuate the plan.”
Marshall & Stevens’ Steve Susel added, “We were very excited to assist Pester to install their ESOP. It was a pleasure working with a company that was implementing a plan that was done for the right reasons and benefits all the parties. The Pester team had a clear vision as to what they wanted to accomplish and worked tirelessly to set up something that they could be proud of. We appreciate Matrix recommending us to Pester as part of the team and having the confidence in us to get the job done.”
Matrix’s Energy and Multi-Site Retail Group is recognized as the national leader in providing transactional advisory services to companies in the downstream energy and multi-site retail sectors including convenience store chains, petroleum marketers, fuels distributors, retail propane distributors, heating oil distributors, lubes retailers and distributors, terminal operators, fuels transportation companies, hospitality companies, and other specialty retail chains. Team members are dedicated to these sectors and draw upon complementary experiences to provide advisory services to complete sophisticated merger and acquisition transactions, debt and equity capital raises, corporate restructurings, corporate valuations, and strategic planning engagements. Since its inception in 1997, this dedicated group has successfully advised on nearly 100 engagements in these sectors.
Established in 1932, Marshall & Stevens is a recognized leader in valuation with five offices around the country, serving business owners, managers, boards and trusted advisors throughout the world. M&S assists clients with planning, due diligence, negotiation and reporting issues related to their mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, financings,insurance placement and tax related transactions. M&S also specializes in ESOP valuations both for new and existing plans. ESOP Capital Strategies, Inc. (ECSI) is a subsidiary of Marshall & Stevens Incorporated. ECSI provides specialized services relating to ESOPs including: feasibility studies, ESOP design and formation, valuation and financial consulting, ESOP financing, and repurchase liability studies. For additional information, please visit www.marshall-stevens.com.