Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (Couche-Tard) announced the closing of the deal to sell its lubricants business to Fuchs Petrolub SE (Fuchs) on Oct. 1. The deal, which was announced on Aug. 1 , 2015, was subject to standard regulatory approvals and closing conditions and has now received clearance from the competition authorities.

The sale is through a share purchase agreement, pursuant to which Fuchs has acquired 100% of all issued and outstanding shares in Statoil Fuel & Retail Lubricants AB (SFR Lubricants).

SFR Lubricants is one of the leading suppliers of lubricants in Scandinavia and the Baltics. Fuchs Petrolub is a global group based in Mannheim, Germany which develops, produces and distributes around 10,000 lubricants and related specialties around the world.

Couche-Tard is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. In the United States, it is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of the number of company-operated stores. In Europe, Couche-Tard is a leader in convenience store and road transportation fuel retail in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, with a significant presence in Poland.

As of July 19, 2015, Couche-Tard’s network comprised of  7,987 convenience stores throughout North America, including 6,556 stores offering road transportation fuel. Its North American network consists of 15 business units, including 11 in the United States, covering 41 states, and four in Canada covering all 10 provinces.

About 80,000 people are employed throughout its network and at its service offices in North America.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a broad retail network across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), Poland, the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia. As at July 19, 2015, it comprised of 2,229 stores, the majority of which offer road transportation fuel and convenience products while the others are unmanned automated service-stations which offer road transportation fuel only. The company also offers other products, including stationary energy, marine fuel, lubricants and chemicals.

Couche-Tard operates key fuel terminals and fuel depots in six countries. Including employees at Statoil-branded franchise stations, about 19,000 people work in its retail network, terminals and service offices across Europe.

In addition, about 4,700 stores are operated by independent operators under the Circle K banner in 12 other countries or regions worldwide (China, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam) which brings to more than 14,900 the number of sites in Couche-Tard’s network.