Dive Brief:
- BW Gas and Convenience Holdings, doing business as Yesway, raised $190 million in equity in the second half of 2022 to fund growth plans, according to a Monday press release.
- Global investment company HPS Investment Partners provided the majority of the money raised, which is earmarked for building new stores.
- The funding is nearly twice as much as the company planned to make by going public, before withdrawing those plans in late 2022.
Dive Insight:
The $190 million is expected to fund construction of a majority of the 28 new stores planned for 2023, according to the announcement. This flurry of expansion is coming after the company completed construction of 17 new stores and 21 “raze-and-rebuild” projects throughout 2022.
Yesway also acquired 9 Tres Amigos locations and piloted a new Allsup’s Express store concept near Texas Tech University last year.
Since founding Yesway in 2015, private equity firm Brookwood Financial Partners has raised approximately $825 million to fund the chain’s growth.
“We are tremendously excited to announce our new partnership with HPS,” said Tom Trkla, chairman and chief executive officer of Yesway. “We are deeply appreciative of the collaborative and accommodating nature of our discussions with HPS that showed a keen understanding of our business.”
Yesway had filed for approval for a $100 million initial public offering (IPO) in September 2021. That request was withdrawn in September of 2022, with the company citing “current market conditions” as the reason for the change of plans. It can still file for an IPO later if it so chooses.
Fort Worth, Texas-based Yesway currently operates 428 Yesway and Allsup’s stores in nine states — Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.
