ETP’s Acquisition of Susser to Close Aug. 29
DALLAS – There is only one thing standing in the way of Energy Transfer Partner LP’s (ETP) acquisition of Susser Holdings Corp., ETP chief financial officer Martin Salinas Jr. said during the company’s 2014 fiscal second-quarter earnings call on Thursday. A shareholder vote by Susser shareholders in Corpus Christi, Texas, at 10 a.m. on Aug. 28.
Under terms of the proposed agreement, Susser shareholders may elect to receive either $80.25 in cash, 1.4506 common units of ETP, or a combination of both.
The deal was first announced on April 28.
Assuming Susser shareholders vote to approve the acquisition, the acquisition will close on Aug. 29, Salinas confirmed. History dictates that shareholders rarely vote against merger proposals whereby they receive a significant premium compared to the share price a company traded for before the announcement, as is the case with Susser.
Dallas-based ETP is the parent company to Sunoco Inc. and Mid-Atlantic Convenience Stores (MACS).
Corpus Christi-based Susser is the parent company of more than 600 Stripes LLC and Sac-N-Pac stores.
“We are very excited about the complementary business with Sunoco, and the great team that Susser brings,” Salinas said.
RETAIL STRONG
Salinas commented Thursday that gas margins were quite strong throughout ETP’s retail business. He added that overall, MACS is performing extremely well.
ETP’s retail division reported adjusted EBITDA of $136 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared to $97 million during the same period last year. Gross margins were also much higher, coming in at $308 million, $104 million higher than last year’s second quarter. Revenues also increased by $277 million.
ETP operated 5,152 stores as of June 30, an increase of 178 locations year over year.
Companywide, ETP had a “great second quarter,” said Salinas. The master limited partnership earned adjusted EBITDA of $1.17 billion for its 2014 fiscal second quarter, an increase of $100 million vs. the same quarter in 2013.
ETP also increased its quarterly distribution by 8 cents per common unit to 95.5 cents per unit, often a sign a company is confident about its future.