Capstone Partners advised Pride Stores, the premier convenience store and gas station chain in Western MA and Northern CT, on its sale to ArcLight Capital Partners.
Pride Stores is a convenience store and gas station chain with a market-leading position in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. Pride opened its first self-serve station in 1976 and first convenience store in 1982, both in Springfield, MA. Today, Pride has 31 modern, next generation stores, including 4 state-of-the-art travel centers and city stops, strategically located across the Greater Springfield and Hartford metro areas. With a long-standing reputation in the community, Pride is well-known among its loyal customers for its high quality service, high volume fuel operations, and diversified mix of fresh food and other in-store offerings.
I selected Capstone Partners over four other firms based on their presentations to me, which I found to be so much more professional and committed than all the others. From that time on, they proved that I had made the right choice. They were by my side at every step of the process and did more than I ever expected. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Ken Wasik, Head of Consumer Investment Banking at Capstone, commented, “Bob Bolduc is a highly successful entrepreneur and industry visionary. He built Pride into a successful 31 store chain that became an integral part of the Springfield community. He recognized the changing lifestyles and demographics of the community and built his stores into state of the art, full service destinations. Complete with drive thru’s, coffee bars, deli counters, alcohol sales, fast food restaurants and even electric charging stations. As a result, Pride became the clear leader of the greater Springfield area and has been growing at a fast clip ever since. It is no wonder Bob received overwhelming amount of demand from potential buyers. I am very pleased by his partnership with ArcLight Capital, who will be a strong steward of the business.”
Jesse Betzner, Director at Capstone who leads our convenience store chain practice, added, “We are extremely proud to have represented Pride Stores on this milestone transaction. While Bob has built an innovative and durable business, he has remained steadfast in his commitment to serving the Company’s loyal customers and employees. ArcLight Capital is the ideal partner for Pride in its next chapter of growth.”
ABOUT ARCLIGHT CAPITAL
Founded in 2001, ArcLight Capital is an asset-based private equity firm investing in the energy sector. To date, it has invested approximately $25 billion in 113 transactions generating strong realized returns for limited partners with 69 exits across a diverse set of market cycles. As a hands-on, long-term owner and operator of energy infrastructure assets, Arclight possesses the skills and deep sector knowledge to make sound and innovative investments in a constantly evolving energy landscape.
