ANKENY, Iowa -- Executives with Casey's General Stores Inc. see more opportunities for growth via acquisitions in the markets in which the large regional convenience store chain operates than at this same time last year. And the company is acting on those opportunities with two deals this week.

Casey's said yesterday, as reported in a CSP Daily News Flash, that the company has entered into agreements to purchase nine convenience stores in Missouri owned by PICS Marketing Inc. and Ridgerunner Properties LLC.

The purchase is the second acquisition in recent days, with the unrelated purchase of three Green Lantern stores in Salinas, Kansas, earlier this week.

The nine stores in the latest deal are currently operated by Cox Oil Co. Inc. under the Bullseye banner, and will be immediately rebranded to Casey's.

Cox Oil will continue to operate nine other Bullseye locations throughout Missouri.

The acquired stores are in scattered Missouri communities that Casey's is already familiar with, Bill Walljasper, senior vice president and CFO for Casey's, told CSP Daily News, adding that some of those towns already have a Casey's site.

The transaction is scheduled to close the week of December 14.

Walljasper said that volumes at the Bullseye stores were higher than an average Casey's location, although footprints varied.

Bob Myers, president and CEO for Casey's, described the Bullseye locations as "well maintained locations that fit perfectly into our business model." The company said that it intends to retain the store-level personnel and that it plans to integrate its proprietary prepared food program throughout the first year of operations, he said.

Casey's model has been to develop sites in rural locations, often being the main provider of groceries and hot-meal options for many of the towns it operates in.

Speaking on acquisitions in general, Walljasper said, "The pipeline for acquisitions is more robust at this point in time this year than last year. We're encouraged by the opportunities we've been looking at and hope to do more of these chains."

He described the markets they operate in as "very fragmented" and expects its near-term growth to be in the form of one-to-two sites, smaller chains and occasionally a midsized or larger chain. This expansion is in addition to the 20 to 25 stores it builds annually, as well as the replacement of about 20 stores

Casey's General Stores, based in Ankeny, Iowa, operates 1,483 convenience stores in nine Midwest states.

(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)