Imperial Oil to sell 497 retail stations for C$2.8 billion

(Reuters) - Imperial Oil Ltd , Canada's No. 2 integrated oil producer and refiner, said it agreed to sell 497 remaining company-owned Esso retail stations to five fuel distributors for about C$2.8 billion ($2.09 billion). The buyers include Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc , 7-Eleven Canada Inc and Parkland Fuel Corp , the company said on Tuesday. All the three companies already operate Esso-branded stations in the country. Imperial, majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corp , said in January 2015 it was evaluating selling the stations. Some 1,200 of the company's 1,700 Esso-branded sites operate under a wholesaler model, where the stations are owned by other parties but retain the Esso brand and are supplied by Imperial. Imperial Oil said on Tuesday it expects the sales to close by the year-end. (Reporting by Vishaka George in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)