LAVAL, Quebec — Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has signed, through its Circle K Stores Inc. subsidiary, an agreement with Comercializadora Círculo CCK SA de CV, to rebrand more than 700 of CCK’s existing Extra convenience stores located throughout Mexico to the Circle K brand by August 2017.

CCK has been the master licensee operating under the banner Circle K in Mexico since 2005 and operates or sublicenses more than 275 Circle K stores there. These stores will offer Circle K’s marketing programs, including Polar Pop, Froster and Circle K Premium Coffee.

Under this agreement, the number of Circle K stores in Mexico will grow to 1,100 by August 2017 and minimum 2,400 by 2030.

“We are very excited to expand the presence of the Circle K brand in Mexico with CCK, our master licensee of 10 years, and demonstrate to the c-store customers in Mexico that Circle K is the place to shop for convenience. We are looking forward to continued development throughout the country,” said Matt McCure, vice president of worldwide franchise and wholesale fuels. Furthermore, we will be placing in-country resources to assist CCK in the growth of the c-stores operating under licensing agreements.”

In other news, Couche-Tard has announces that it has signed, through its Couche-Tard Luxembourg SARL subsidiary, an agreement to sell its lubricants business to Fuchs Petrolub SE. The sale is through a share purchase agreement, pursuant to which Fuchs would acquire 100% of all issued and outstanding shares in Statoil Fuel & Retail Lubricants AB.

The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

SFR Lubricants is one of the leading suppliers of lubricants in Scandinavia and the Baltics, and in recent years has had a high rate of growth in Central and Eastern Europe.

Fuchs, based in Mannheim, Germany, develops, produces and distributes lubricants and related specialties across the world. This acquisition complements its existing European footprint, giving them a leading market position in the Scandinavian region and strengthening their position in Central and Eastern Europe.

As of April 26, 2015, Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard’s network comprised 7,848 convenience stores throughout North America, including 6,404 stores with motor fuel. Its North American network consists of 14 business units, including 10 in the United States covering 41 states and the District of Columbia (primarily under the Circle K and The Pantry brands) and four in Canada (primarily under the Mac’s and Couche-Tard brands) covering all 10 provinces.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a retail network across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark), Poland, the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Russia comprising 2,230 stores, most of which offer motor fuel and convenience-store products, while others are unmanned automated service-stations that offer motor fuel only. It also offers stationary energy, marine fuel, lubricants and chemicals. Couche-Tard operates key fuel terminals and fuel depots in six countries.

Also, licensees operate approximately 4,700 convenience stores under the Circle K banner in 12 other countries worldwide (China, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam), which brings to more than 14,700 the number of sites in Couche-Tard’s network.