Report: Thorntons gas and food mart chain is on the sale block

Grace Schneider | Courier Journal

Correction: A previous version misstated where James H. Thornton was originally from. He's from New Albany.

An oil market analyst firm is reporting that Thorntons, the gas retail chain founded and based in Louisville, is exploring a possible sale.

OPIS, or Oil Price Information Service, said Thorntons has retained investment banker Lazard to examine selling its 192-store operation. The retailer, a dominant player in the highly competitive gas and food mart sector, has stores in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and most recently, Florida.

OPIS wrote that despite a "no comment" from company officials, it had confirmed with multiple sources that Lazard is showing a "book" on Thorntons. That typically details customer data and other closely held sales and marketing information.

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"In a busy period for M&A (mergers and acquisitions), downstream retailers may soon find out how hot the market is for acquiring a 'New Era' station chain" as the "well regarded" Thorntons explores a sale, according to OPIS.

Thorntons has been growing rapidly, adding at least seven stores since last year and forging into the state of Florida. Calls made to the Thorntons media hotline late Thursday afternoon were not immediately returned.

Entrepreneur James H. Thornton founded the company in 1971 but he started selling gasoline from a small station in New Albany in 1952. It's grown to become one of the country's top independent convenience store chains. In late 2015, when Thornton was inducted into the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, the company ranked about 250th out of 500 of Forbes magazine's list of the nation's largest privately held companies. Its reported annual revenue was more than $2.3 billion.

More than 15 years ago, the company made a big move in trying to capture more sales of convenience and grocery items. It transformed its more traditional gas and convenience stops to stores that featured big broad, glass fronts and bigger, brighter interiors where shoppers were inclined to make impulse buys of food and supplies while they refuel at the pumps.

The company operates under an employee stock ownership plan in which roughly 1,700 employees participate in a plan with net assets exceeding $21 million, as of December 2016. Matt Thornton, 46, son of the company's founder and chairman, became president and chief executive in fall 2001.

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Grace Schneider: 502-582-4082; gschneider@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @gesinfk. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/graces.