Matrix Advises on the Sale of Hutchinson Oil Company’s Convenience Retail & Travel Centers Business to Circle K Stores and its Delivered Fuels Business to Hampel Oil Distributors
Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. announces that it has advised Hutchinson Oil Company, Inc. on the sale of its petroleum marketing and convenience retail business to Circle K Stores Inc. Headquartered in Elk City, Oklahoma, Hutchinson is a leading petroleum marketer and convenience retailer, operating 20 high-performing Hutch’s branded convenience stores and travel centers in western Oklahoma and southern Kansas.
Hutchinson is a third-generation, family-owned and operated business that was founded by Ross Hutchinson in 1969. His son, David Hutchinson, assumed the role of president in the 1990s and focused the Company’s efforts on expanding the Hutch’s brand by building large, attractive convenience stores and travel centers with best-in-class amenities that catered to both the passenger vehicle and professional driver customer. The stores offer a top-tier “Hutch’s Deli” proprietary food and beverage program with made-to-order (MTO) foodservice and an extensive selection of traditional convenience merchandise.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Hutchinson sold its delivered fuels business to Hampel Oil Distributors, Inc. Hutchinson’s delivered fuels business sold commercial refined fuels products to a diverse commercial and industrial customer base throughout western Oklahoma. With the closing of the convenience retail and travel centers transaction in January 2025, the Hutchinson family has now exited the fuels industry after a long and successful period as one of Oklahoma’s premier petroleum marketers, fuels distributors and convenience retail operators.
Matrix provided merger and acquisition advisory services to the Company, which included valuation advisory, marketing the businesses through confidential, structured sale processes, and negotiation of the transactions. The transactions were managed by Cedric Fortemps, CFA, Co-Head of Matrix’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group; John Duni, CFA, CPA, Vice President; Mike Tucker, CFA, Senior Associate; and Matthew Paniccia, Associate.
David Hutchinson, President of Hutchinson, commented, “We have known the Matrix team for years through our involvement in SIGMA. They managed our transactions with the same knowledge and professionalism that we have come to know them for. From start to finish, they managed many of the details that helped us maximize the value of our company. As the Hutchinson Family determines our next chapter, we cannot thank the Matrix team enough for their help to complete these transactions. We could not have done this without them.”
Mr. Fortemps added, “The Hutchinson family should be extremely proud of the best-in-class network of convenience stores and travel centers that they developed and operated with an incredible and successful focus on customer satisfaction. We are honored to have had the opportunity to advise them on the sales of their fuels, convenience retail and travel center businesses.”
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, car washes and quick service restaurants. 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, the firm’s Downstream Energy & Convenience Retail Investment Banking Group has successfully completed over 300 engagements.
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 an additional office in Baltimore, MD. Matrix provides merger & acquisition and financial advisory services for privately-held, private-equity owned, not-for-profit and publicly traded companies. Matrix’s advisory services include company sales, recapitalizations, capital raises of debt & equity, corporate carve outs, special situations, management buyouts, corporate valuations and fairness opinions.
The firm’s industry-focused, dedicated sector advisory groups serve clients in the automotive aftermarket, downstream energy and convenience retail, healthcare, outdoor recreation, and marine markets. Its broad sector advisory groups serve clients in a wide range of industries, including business services, consumer, diversified industrials, restaurants, and transportation and logistics. For additional information, visit www.matrixcmg.com.