EG Group to Acquire Cumberland Farms

EG Group, the British retailer which last year purchased Kroger's convenience-store business, has entered into a binding agreement for the acquisition of Cumberland Farms, the Westborough, Mass.-based chain operating about 600 convenience stores in seven Northeast states and Florida.

The purchase of Cumberland Farms will take EG Group’s network to a total of nearly 1,700 U.S. stores, operating in 30 states and retailing more than 2.5 billion gallons of fuel with merchandise sales of more than $3 billion on an annualized basis.

“The acquisition of Cumberland Farms is a transformative one for our U.S. business,” said Mohsin Issa, founder and co-CEO of EG Group. “It brings us greater scale and a well-established network in locations we do not currently serve that is highly complementary to our existing U.S. store footprint. We believe that the Cumberland Farms portfolio comprises some of the very best convenience stores within the USA and we are delighted they will form part of the EG family.”

EG Group will retain the Cumberland Farms brand on all of the acquired stores and is considering the addition of Cumberland Farms products into EG’s portfolio, the company said.

“Whilst we believe EG can add a lot to the Cumberland Farms business, we also recognize that EG has much to learn from it,” Issa said. “Our group’s ability to maintain consistency in both owned and third-party brand standards, along with delivering the right customer experience, have made EG Group a partner and acquirer of choice.”

Zuber Issa, founder and co-CEO of EG Group, said, “Over nearly eight decades, the Haseotes family have built Cumberland Farms into an outstanding portfolio of large, modern facilities run by a team of associates who are connected to the communities they serve. It is rare that an asset of this quality becomes available and we are delighted to have been successful in a highly competitive process. We look forward to welcoming the talented team at Cumberland Farms into the EG family.”

“We very much look forward to becoming part of the EG family, as it is clear that both Cumberland Farms and EG Group share a common vision for excellence in convenience retailing and commitment to investment in our people,” said Ari Haseotes, president and CEO, Cumberland Farms.

Founded in 2001 by the Issa family, Blackburn, U.K.-based EG Group is a leading gasoline forecourt retail convenience operator that has established partnerships with global brands. It has approximately 5,200 sites in Europe, the United States and Australia.

A version of this article appeared first at CSP Daily News, a WGB sister site.