7-Eleven Buys Speedway!

Ohio-based Speedway is being bought by 7-Eleven.

If the deal is approved, 7-Eleven will expand its empire. Marathon is selling off the Speedway, an Enon, Ohio based convenience store and fueling center.

Seven & i Holdings Co., the world's largest convenience store franchiser, agreed to buy Speedway from the Marathon Petroleum Corp. for $21 billion in cash.

The company operates in Enon, a tiny village about 20 miles from Dayton, Ohio.

The two firms announced the cash deal in a statement late Sunday. It's one of the biggest acquisition in the world to be announced since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Seven & i Holdings is based out of Tokyo, Japan and operates 7-Eleven and supermarket chain Ito-Yokado, department stores Sogo and Seibu and other entities.

7-Eleven is an iconic brand of convenience stores.

"This acquisition is the largest in our company's history and will allow us to grow and diversify our presence in the U.S., particularly in the Midwest and East Coast, said Joe DePinto, the President and CEO of 7-Eleven, U.S. operations. "By added these quality locations to our portfolio, 7-Eleven will have the opportunity to bring convenience to more customers than ever before."

Speedway operates in 32 states from its core seven-state region in the Midwest since 2012.

There are 4,000 locations in the United States.

Once approved, Speedway will belong to 7-Eleven and it will operate in the U.S. and Canada.

7-Eleven once had locations in Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus. They pulled out of the Dayton and Cincinnati market in the 1980s.

7-Eleven pulled out of Columbus in 2014.

Speedway operates in these cities.

7-Eleven has over 9,800 stores in the United States. With this transition, there will be around 14,000 locations in the United States and Canada.

Speedway's acquirement also comes as the Dunkin' Donuts (known as Dunkin') will end their business partnership. Dunkin' will be closing restaurants in the United States. A handful of the Dunkin' chains will be inside Speedway stores. About 800 stores are on the list of closure in the United States.