Business News

The FTC official says a $ 21bn Speedway 7-Eleven deal could be legal

The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said the $ 21bn purchase of a Speedway gas station by a 7-Eleven convenience store owner could violate competition law.

Japan’s largest supplier of Seven Seven & i Holdings agreed to buy the business – with 3,900 oil and gas stations – from Marathon Petroleum on a lucrative trade last August as it appears to be stabilizing in the US market.

The build-up will increase its seventh & 7th push in the US after purchasing $ 3.3bn from other parts of Sunoco and oil retailers in 2017. Increasing Speedway could also increase its share in the US retail market from 5.9% to 8.5 percent, pushing ahead of its counterparts. dear, Alimentation Couche-Tard of Canada.

But on the way out Friday, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, FTC chairwoman, and Rohit Chopra, Democratic FTC Commissioner, said they were “deeply concerned” by Seven & i’s announcement earlier in the day that the deal had been closed despite the ambassador’s continued investigation. he has reason to believe that this work is illegal. “

“In most local markets, these exchanges either integrate themselves or reduce competitors from three to two,” he said in a statement.

While antitrust regulators had already squandered “many of the requirements” in commercial research, they had not yet agreed with the companies involved to solve its problems, he said.

“The seventh and Marathon elections are closed in these cases and it is very strange, and we are very worried about this,” said Slaughter and Chopra.

Seven & i said Friday it signed an agreement with FTC workers at the end of April, when it offered to sell 293 plots of land. The agreement has not yet been signed by FTC officials.

“If approved, these laws will eliminate all competition issues that commissioners mention in their statements,” the company said. “We are confident that the council will approve the agreement by now.”

The Speedway contract was later broken past issues between Seven & i and Marathon was damaged due to failure to agree on prices. The company failed to pay $ 22bn for Speedway’s work but agreed to a 4.5% reduction after five months.

Marathon last year said the deal would generate about $ 16.5bn in subsequent tax payments, which repay debt and repay to shareholders.

Marathon arrived at the summit under pressure from fundraiser Elliott Management, who in 2019 campaigned for the company to end “continuous inefficiency” in its businesses. It has already announced plans to launch Speedway into another group.

Marathon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FTC will continue to investigate the situation “to determine the best way to deal with anti-competitive issues”, Slaughter and Chopra said in a statement. “Parties have closed their events at their own risk.”


Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button