Yesway completes new funding to support store remodels, acquisitions
Yesway plans to upgrade and expand expand its portfolio.
The convenience store operator completed the private placement of an additional $235 million of equity. The new capital will be used to fund an extensive raze-and-rebuild and store remodel campaign across the chain’s portfolio and to pursue acquisitions to further expand the Yesway/Allsup's brand presence. (Yesway acquired the 304-store Allsup’s Convenience Stores last November).
As part of its integration of Allsup's, Yesway identified more than $135 million in real estate capital projects within the portfolio, including razing and rebuilding 27 existing stores, performing targeted upgrades to over 100 additional locations, converting several existing Yesway stores in Texas to the Allsup's brand. The project also include significantly upgrading many existing Yesway-branded stores and adding new to market stores in select communities.
Brookwood Financial Partners, the private equity firm that founded Yesway, was the sole private placement agent for the offering. In total, Brookwood has more than $642 million in equity capital for its Yesway affiliate in addition to arranging over $237 million in sale-leaseback proceeds.
"Since founding Yesway approximately five years ago and acquiring the Allsup's Convenience Store chain last November, we have been extremely pleased with our integration efforts and how well the company has performed,” said Tom Trkla, chairman and CEO, Yesway, which operates 402 stores. “Given this success, we decided to raise additional capital to accelerate our real estate capital programs and to finance additional portfolio acquisitions.”
Yesway also announced the recent completion of more than $7 million in technology upgrades to all Allsup's stores, including the installation of a state-of-the-art PDI back office software system, the migration of all Yesway and Allsup's stores to a consistent point of sale system, and the installation of significant in-store hardware systems and upgrades.
“These technological and telecommunications improvements will allow us to dramatically improve our reporting capabilities and repair and maintenance turnaround times, in addition to serving as the platform for our soon-to-be unveiled Allsup's customer loyalty program, which has been modeled after our award-winning Yesway Rewards loyalty offering,” the company stated.
Yesway is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, It operates 402 stores in Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Nebraska. It plans to grow its portfolio to some 500 locations.