BP Officially Becomes Sole Owner of Thorntons

The company ends its two-year-old joint venture with Arclight Partners LLC

BP WRAPPED UP ITS bid to take 100 percent ownership of Louisville, Ky.-based Thorntons. With the acquisition, the company reenters fully owned and operated U.S. convenience stores.

The transaction, which comprised 208 c-stores, comes two years after BP entered into a joint venture with Arclight Partners LLC to acquire Thorntons. BP announced plans to acquire the majority share of Thorntons it did not already own in July 2021.

Thorntons stores are located in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Florida. BP plans to keep and build on the Thorntons brand.

“We are committed to putting the customer at the heart of what we do to help accelerate the mobility revolution and redefine the convenience experience at service stations,” Greg Franks, senior vice president, mobility and convenience, Americas, stated when BP announced the acquisition. “Thorntons has generated long-term customer loyalty over the last 50 years because of its best-in-class operations. We are excited to welcome them into our family.”

This move aligns with BP’s strategy for its convenience and mobility business, which seeks to nearly double global earnings by 2030. The company plans to increase the number of strategic convenience sites in its global network from around 2,000 today to more than 3,000 by that date.

With its U.S. headquarters based in Chicago, BP plc is a global energy producer with operations in nearly 80 countries. Its goal is to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero.