C-Store Chain Yesway Goes Public for $280M

Yesway (Fort Worth, Texas) went public today (April 22), pricing of its initial public offering of 14 million shares at a starting price of $20 per share. In addition, Yesway has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.1 million shares at that price, minus an underwriting discount. The offering is expected to close on April 23.

In documents related to the stock sale filed earlier this month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, CoStar reports, the company said it planned to use part of the proceeds from the sale to open about 130 new stores over the next five years under both its Yesway and Allsup’s banners. Its new stores average about 5800 square feet on a 3.7-acre lot with 27 fuel pumps.

In those filings, Yesway also said it is looking to capitalize on investor interest in convenience stores, pointing to stock price increases at two of the largest such companies – a 33% gain by Casey’s General Stores stock and a 23% increase by Murphy USA’s shares. Also on the grow are such privately held convenience store companies as QuikTrip and Wawa, the CoStar coverage noted.

Established in 2015 and known for its deep-fried burritos, Yesway currently operates about 450 stores in nine states. While most of those stores are in Texas and Oklahoma, it also has locations in New Mexico, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Wyoming.