US Fuel Distributor and Retailer Anabi Oil Acquires 12 California Stores

Fuel distributor and retailer Anabi Oil of Upland, Calif., has continued its aggressive expansion push by acquiring 12 California convenience stores from C&J Cox and affiliates in the Tri-Valley and Lake Tahoe areas, sell-side advisor Matrix Capital Markets Group said in a news release Thursday.

Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.

Anabi, which in October struck a deal for the 87-unit Nevada convenience store chain Green Valley Grocery, operates more than 600 c-stores in 16 states. It has quadrupled the size of its retail network in about a decade.

Anabi closed on the Cox transaction in November. The deal involved nine stores in the Tri-Valley region and three stores in the Lake Tahoe area. Cox Family Stores, founded in 1976 in Dublin, Calif., will continue to own and operate two stores in the Tri-Valley area, according to the release.

Anabi, founded in 1991, operates gasoline, convenience retail, food service and car wash sites across the U.S. It also supplies a broad network of company-operated and dealer sites with major fuel brands including Shell, Exxon, 76 and Sinclair. In addition, the company owns and operates Rebel c-stores.

“The Cox family built one of the most admired convenience store networks in northern California and we consider it a privilege to continue that legacy,” Anabi Chief Executive Sam Anabi said of the deal. “Our focus is to preserve the level of quality their customers have trusted for decades. Because these sites were already operated with such discipline and pride, the transition has been exceptionally smooth: strong teams remain in place and service continues uninterrupted.”

Anabi last year acquired Fast Track, a Florida chain of convenience stores and quick-service restaurants. The company also purchased 124 stores divested by 7-Eleven in its $21 billion purchase of Marathon Petroleum’s Speedway retail chain in 2021.

–Reporting by Donna Harris, dharris@opisnet.com