Circle K store business sold for $2.79b

Staff reporter

Convenience Retail Asia (0831) will sell its Circle K convenience store business to Alimentation Couche-Tard, the brand's owner, for HK$2.79 billion.

The Circle K Hong Kong franchisee expects to gain around HK$2.9 billion from the deal and will issue a special dividend of HK$3.85 after completing the sale.

CRA said that socal and economic developments in Hong kong including the pandemic had prompted the managment to review the business, whose licence was up for renewal, while taking into account its target customer-base of tourists, students and office workers, and the future investment required in and beyond Hong Kong.

It pointed out that convenience stores are operationally intensive while it's other brands -- Saint Honore, Mon Cher and Zoff -- were more suited for leveraging on the use of internet and online platforms and less reliant on logistics and supply chain infrastructure.

CRA  operates 340 Circle K stores. As of the end of June, the net asset of the convenience store business was around HK$622 million.

Canada-based ACT operates a 15,000-strong Circle K network across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe, Japan, China and Indonesia.