Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. (“Matrix”), a leading independent investment bank, announces the successful closing on the sale of the assets of Stop-N-Go of Madison, Inc. and its affiliates (“Stop-N-Go” or the “Company”) to Kwik Trip, Inc. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, the Company operates 36 Stop-N-Go branded convenience stores throughout southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

Stop-N-Go was founded in 1963 by Duane and Olympia Bowman with a focus on operating neighborhood grocery stores. In the 1980’s, Stop-N-Go underwent a strategic initiative to transform the portfolio into a convenience store chain with a motor fuels offering, which resulted in the closing and selling of many locations, as well as the construction of many new facilities. Today, under the leadership of Andrew Bowman, President and fourth generation of family ownership, and Kevin O’Brien, CFO, Stop-N-Go has continued to grow into one of the leading convenience store brands in southern Wisconsin. 

Founded in 1965 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Kwik Trip, Inc. is one of the largest independently-held convenience store chains in the United States.  Today, Kwik Trip owns and operates over 750 stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa and employs over 30,000 coworkers. Kwik Trip has annually been named a “Top Workplace” in each of the three states in which it operates.  Kwik Trip plans to continue to operate many of the acquired stores under the existing Stop-N-Go banner. Some of the larger stores will be remodeled and rebranded as Kwik Trip or Kwik Star in Illinois.

Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Stop-N-Go, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential, structured sale process, and negotiation of the transaction. The transaction was managed by Vance Saunders, Managing Director; Spencer Cavalier, Co-Head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group; and Martin McElroy, Associate.

Andrew Bowman, President of Stop-N-Go, commented, “Selling our business was one of the most important decisions I’ve had to make not only for our family, but our co-workers too. When we met with Matrix I knew they were the advisors for us, they came prepared. Matrix led us step by step through the process and made sure we were fully aware of how everything would flow. When we began talks with Kwik Trip we were able to present a ‘book’ to them that was clear and thorough. The professionals at Matrix are proven experts in our industry and negotiated a very strong contract. Overall, we couldn’t feel better about our choice in selecting Matrix and Kwik Trip.”

Mr. Saunders added, “Andrew and his team have built an exceptional brand and highly successful company. We’re happy to have been selected to lead this sale process to a successful conclusion.”

Katrene Zelenovskiy, Daniel Kersey, and Bernard Kearney of Quarles & Brady LLP served as legal counsel to Stop-N-Go.

About Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group

Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking 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 retailing, petroleum marketing & distribution, propane distribution, heating oil distribution, lubricants distribution, petroleum logistics, terminals and car washes.  Group 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 valuations, special situations and strategic planning engagements.  Since 1997, our Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group has successfully completed over 230 engagements with a total transaction value of more than $11.5 billion.

About Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc.

Founded in 1988, Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. is an independent, advisory focused, privately-held investment bank headquartered in Richmond, VA, with additional offices in Baltimore, MD and Chicago, IL. Matrix provides merger & acquisition and financial advisory services for privately-held, private-equity owned, not-for-profit and publicly traded companies, as well as municipalities.  Matrix’s advisory services include company sales, recapitalizations, capital raises of debt & equity, municipal advisory, corporate carve outs, special situations, management buyouts, corporate valuations, fairness opinions and business consulting. Matrix serves clients in a wide range of industries, including automotive aftermarket, building products, business services, consumer products, convenience retail, downstream energy, healthcare, and industrial products. For additional information or to contact our team members, please visit www.matrixcmg.com.