Stock Option Exercise and Sale of Shares by Certain Founders of the Corporation

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Mar 19, 2015, 05:03 ET

LAVAL, QC, March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. ("Couche-Tard") (TSX: ATD.A ATD.B) announces that Messrs. Alain Bouchard, Richard Fortin and Réal Plourde have informed the Corporation of their intention to exercise respectively 600,000, 300,000 and 300,000 stock options for Class B subordinated voting shares of Couche-Tard granted to them in 2005 and which are expiring in May 2015.

With respect to such stock option exercises, Messrs. Bouchard, Fortin and Plourde have filed with the securities commissions the regulatory notices of their intentions and which are as follows:

250,000 Class B subordinated voting shares acquired from the 600,000 stock options exercise by Mr. Bouchard will be gifted to La Fondation Sandra et Alain Bouchard, a registered charity. Mr. Bouchard will keep the remaining shares deriving from such exercise.
200,000 Class B subordinated voting shares acquired from the 300,000 stock options exercise by Mr. Fortin will be sold. Mr. Fortin will keep the remaining shares deriving from such exercise. La Fondation Lise et Richard Fortin will be selling 10,000 Class B Subordinated Voting Shares to meet donations commitments.
50,000 Class B subordinated voting shares acquired from the 300,000 stock options exercise by Mr. Plourde will be gifted to La Fondation Ariane Riou et Réal Plourde, a registered charity. Mr. Plourde will sell the remaining shares deriving from such exercise. La Fondation Ariane Riou et Réal Plourde will be selling 5,000 Class B Subordinated Voting Shares to meet donations commitments.

In compliance with the applicable regulations, no sale/gift will occur prior to March 26, 2015. Such sales may occur thereafter over a period of 30 days, subject to applicable blackout periods.

Profile

Couche-Tard is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. In the United States, it is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of number of company-operated stores. In Europe, Couche-Tard is a leader in convenience store and road transportation fuel in Scandinavian and Baltic countries while it has a significant presence in Poland.

As of February 1, 2015, Couche-Tard's network comprised 6,314 convenience stores throughout North America, including 4,870 stores with road transportation fuel dispensing. Its North-American network consists of 13 business units, including nine in the United States covering 40 states and four in Canada covering all ten provinces. More than 60,000 people are employed throughout its network and at the service offices in North America. Following the acquisition of The Pantry, Inc. on March 16, 2015, 1,524 additional stores were added to the network in the United States, totalling 7,838 convenience stores, more than 75,000 people.

In Europe, Couche-Tard operates a broad retail network across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark), Poland, the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Russia, which comprised 2,233 stores as at February 1, 2015, the majority of which offer road transportation fuel and convenience products while the others are unmanned automated service-stations which offer road transportation fuel only. The Corporation also offers other products, including stationary energy, marine fuel, aviation fuel, lubricants and chemicals. Couche-Tard operates key fuel terminals and fuel depots in eight countries. Including employees at Statoil branded franchise stations, about 17,500 people work in its retail network, terminals and service offices across Europe.

In addition, about 4,600 stores are operated by independent operators under the Circle K banner in 12 other countries worldwide (China, Guam, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam) which brings to more than 13,100 the number of sites in Couche-Tard's network.

The statements set forth in this press release, which describes Couche-Tard's objectives, projections, estimates, expectations or forecasts, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities legislation. Positive or negative verbs such as "believe", "could", "should", "intend", "expect", "estimate", "assume" and other related expressions are used to identify such statements. Couche-Tard would like to point out that, by their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties such that its results, or the measures it adopts, could differ materially from those indicated or underlying these statements, or could have an impact on the degree of realization of a particular projection. Major factors that may lead to a material difference between Couche-Tard's actual results and the projections or expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements include the effects of the integration of acquired businesses and the ability to achieve projected synergies, fluctuations in margins on motor fuel sales, competition in the convenience store and retail motor fuel industries, exchange rate variations, and such other risks as described in detail from time to time in the reports filed by Couche-Tard with securities authorities in Canada and the United States. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Couche-Tard disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information in this release is based on information available as of the date of the release.

SOURCE Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.