Canadian convenience store operators Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (Couche-Tard) have announced they are to buy Norwegian energy retail firm Statoil Fuel & Retail A/S (SFA).
The Canucks are paying 53 krone per share in the US $2.8 billion cash deal, expected to close in June.
Couche-Tard's CEO, Alain Bouchard, said entering the European market was "great timing" for the Montreal based business noting that "Europe eventually will solve their financial issues".
Statoil Fuel & Retail chairman Birger Magnus said the deal has the potential to be "a very positive milestone for the organization."
SFA was formed in 2010 when it was spun off from government controlled Statoil ASA (Statoil), who came 67th in 2011's Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the world.
Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, SFA lists fuel stations, lubricant products and aviation fuel supply as its core activities.
In June 2011, SFA made a deal with Nordic Marine Oil A/S, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malik Supply A/S, to take over all of SFA's Danish core activities in the marine segment but says it still keeps an interest in marine fuel products.
