Freedom Oil Company, which operated Freedom Oil Company convenience stores in both Central Illinois and Florida for 80 years, has sold the c-store chain to Mizpah Ventures, LLC, a Chicago-based company that operates convenience stores and fuel wholesale businesses in Illinois and Wisconsin, according to Freedom Oil president Mike Owens. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Freedom Oil was founded in 1948 and grew from a few neighborhood stores into a network of 27 locations throughout Illinois and Florida.
Mike Owens, president and the third generation of the Owens family, said the sale of the stores was a bittersweet moment as he remembered the company’s journey from a couple of convenience stores to its present-day level. However, after a lifetime in the convenience store business he knew the time was right to step away and pursue other opportunities, he explained.
Terry Monroe, president of American Business Brokers & Advisors in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, and Bill Fecht of WJF Services Inc., in Normal, Illinois, provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Freedom Oil, which included valuation advisory, marketing the business through a confidential process and negotiation of the transaction.
In other recent acquisitions, earlier this week NACS Daily reported that West Virginia-based Little General Stores acquired five U-SAVE convenience store locations in Nicholas County, West Virginia. “This expansion strengthens the company’s presence in central West Virginia and further supports its mission to provide accessible, reliable services to communities across the Mountain State,” Little General said.