Tiger Management Groups LLC, owned by Chattanooga, Tenn. businessman Lyle Finley, has acquired 26 ExxonMobil gas stations in the Nashville area, The Tennessean reported.
Finley already owns and operates 11 Exxon gas stations, and this new purchase grows his store count to 37 locations.
The purchase also puts Irving, Texas-based Exxon closer to its goal of divesting its remaining gas stations to independent operators. Exxon has been trying to sell the 2,200 gas stations it owns across the nation since the summer of 2008.
Finley is no stranger to the convenience store industry. He had a chain of 135 gas stations across the Southeast called Golden Gallon that he sold to the grocery story chain Bi-Lo in 2000.
According to property records in Nashville, his Tiger Management Group bought 18 gas stations in the city for roughly $30 million. He has a $37 million loan from Regions Bank for the purchase, The Tennessean reported.
Finley also is reportedly buying gas stations in Wilson, Sumner, and Rutherford counties and one in Williamson County.