After a shareholder publicly questions CST’s profitability, the industry watches for the chain’s next move.
Several companies have reportedly expressed interest in a potential acquisition of CST Brands’ assets, including Marathon Petroleum’s, Speedway, Alimentation Couche-Tard and Energy Transfer Partners’ Sunoco, according to The Street.
The interest follows a Dec. 9 open letter from shareholder Engine Capital that called out CST Brands’ underperformance in both stocks and same-store sales since its spinoff from Valero Energy and asked it to take strategic steps or explore a sale.
According to the report by The Street, if there isn’t a sale of CST Brands, the odds are high a proxy fight could be ahead. An opportunity to nominate directors opens in early March.
CST Brands, based in San Antonio, is among North America’s largest publicly traded fuel and convenience store retailers and encompasses more than 1,900 retail locations in the U.S. and Canada under banners that include Corner Store, Depanneur du Coin and Nice N Easy.
CST Brands inherited a master limited partnership structure via an Aug. 7, 2014, agreement to buy all the membership interests of Lehigh Gas, the general partner of Lehigh Gas Partners LP, from Lehigh Gas Corp. for $85 million. With the closing of the deal on Oct. 1, 2014, Lehigh Gas Partners was renamed CrossAmerica.