Richmond, Virginia-based Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., an independent investment bank, has advised Sherman V. Allen Inc. on the sale of its 13 “Mac’s Market” branded convenience retail stores and one commissioned agent site to Global Partners LP.
The company’s stores are located in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts and sell Citgo branded fuels. The company will continue to operate its Mac’s Market grocery stores throughout Vermont, which are not part of the transaction.
Forty years ago, Sherman V. Allen Jr. opened his first convenience store in Fair Haven, Vermont, near the New York border. The store was a success, providing for the needs of the average driver and truckers alike. Not long after, Mac, as he was known, purchased a local fuel company and started his own distribution business.
Over the course of time, he purchased and established additional convenience stores and fuel companies, expanding his business into New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Not one to be satisfied with just one business, he also purchased a local hotel in Vermont, as well as several neighborhood grocery stores and pursued a number of real estate development opportunities.
His daughter, Jennifer C. Allen, has worked for her father since she was old enough to hold a broom and over the last decade, she has managed both the convenience store and grocery store divisions of the company. Several years ago, when her father was taken ill and before he died, they both agreed that due to the challenges faced by most small convenience store operators, it would be best to sell the convenience stores so that they could focus on the grocery store division and real estate development.
“We have enjoyed working in the convenience store business to service our local communities in Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Our relationships in Vermont will continue under the Mac’s Market name, with our neighborhood grocery stores, and we are excited with the prospect of new real estate developments on the horizon,” Allen said. “In the meantime, we are confident that Global Partners, a leading petroleum and convenience store operator throughout the Eastern U.S., will exceed our expectations in maximizing the opportunities available to them, using their expertise and abundant resources, in improving and expanding what my father started with nothing more than a 500-square-foot store in Fair Haven, Vermont.
“My thanks and gratitude to our employees, who worked in one of the most challenging industries and who put the needs of our community before their own during the pandemic. Many thanks as well to the Matrix team, who worked with me and my staff, to achieve our goal in selling our family business to a well-respected company, like Global,” she said.
Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to SVA, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process and negotiation of the sale. The transaction was managed by John Underwood, managing director; Andrew LoPresti, VP; and Matthew Paniccia, analyst.
“We greatly appreciate the confidence that Ms. Allen placed in the Matrix team. The SVA team was great to work with, as they supported the sales effort while continuing to manage the day-to-day operations of both the convenience stores and grocery stores under very difficult conditions during the pandemic,” Underwood said.
Peter S. Erly and Catherine A. Burke of Gravel & Shea PC, and Diane McCarthy of Sheehy Furlong and Behm PC served as legal counsel for Sherman V. Allen, Inc.
