McCLEARY, Wash. -- Were the retailers who run ConocoPhillips dealer-operated sites left out of the equation of last week's agreement to sell the about 600 stores to a single entity? That's the question swirling many retailers' heads in the wake of the deal announced Wednesday.
"Dealers in Washington and California have a right of first refusal on all assets owned by ConocoPhillips at the locations they lease," Tim Hamilton, executive director of the Automotive United Trades Organization, McCleary, Wash., told CSP Daily News. "ConocoPhillips must supply the current dealer with an offer [image-nocss] to sell at that same price as offered to PetroSun [West] and 30 days in which to exercise their rights prior to the sale to PetroSun."
The concern comes after Houston-based ConocoPhillips signed a definitive agreement to sell its remaining retail sites to independent petroleum-retail and convenience-store operator PetroSun Fuel and its newly formed affiliate Pacific Convenience & Fuel LLC for a reported $800 million.
Hamilton said that deal, which includes stores in 10 states, including Washington and California, may have overlooked the legal rights of dealers in those states.
"Unless ConocoPhillips immediately steps forward and acknowledges that it will provide the dealers a right of first refusal in Washington and California prior to a sale to PetroSun," said Hamilton, a former gas-station owner and a representative of franchise associations in both states, "our advice to the effected dealers will be to immediately acquire legal counsel and prepare a legal challenge that will block the sale to PetroSun West."
A ConocoPhillips spokesperson offered no comment on the issue when contacted by CSP Daily News. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals before the sale to PetroSun West is complete.
According to the president of the purchasing company, Sam Hirbod, about 320 of the sites purchased were company-operated, the rest were operated by dealers.Click here for details of the deal.
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