LAVAL, Quebec -- Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has put Statoil shareholders on notice once and for all that it will not increase its offer for the Norwegian gasoline retailer. The $2.7 billion bid was announced on April 18.
Couche-Tard said that its all-cash offer for all the issued and outstanding shares of Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA for 51.20 Norwegian Krone ($8.93 U.S.) per share in cash (53.00 Krone [$9.22 U.S.] before dividend of 1.80 Krone paid to shareholders on May 9, 2012) is and will remain its best and final offer.
"We understand that certain investors and shareholders of Statoil Fuel & Retail could believe we may eventually increase our offer," Couche-Tard's vice president and chief financial officer, Raymond Pare, said in a statement issued by the Laval, Quebec-based company.
"Considering we will be settling on June 19 any shares validly tendered by tomorrow, we thought it would prove important to clarify any remaining misperception or misunderstanding with respect to our intentions. As such, we underscore and reiterate that our message remains consistent and therefore, our NOK 51.20 cash offer will remain our best and final proposal, whether under the voluntary offer or any subsequent processes, including but not limited to a mandatory offer that could occur after the acceptance period of the voluntary offer ending June 20, 2012, presuming we do not reach the 90% tendering level."
He added, "That being said, we are very confident that we will reach such threshold by June 20, 2012, considering our cash offer has become even more attractive in the context of increasingly challenging market conditions and mostly because of the momentum we have recently witnessed with some key shareholders of Statoil Fuel & Retail's who have decided to tender their shares so as to benefit from a rapid settlement."
As of Jan. 29, 2012, Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard had a network of 5,817 convenience stores, 4,225 of which include motor fuel dispensing. It supplies motor fuel to 338 sites operated by independent operators. Couche-Tard's network consists of 13 business units, including nine in the United States covering 42 states and the District of Columbia (primarily under the Circle K flag), and four in Canada covering all 10 provinces (primarily under the Mac's and Couche-Tard flags).
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of the deal.)
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