BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. -- In his 25 years in the convenience store industry, Marty Anderson rose from cashier to the CEO of a 58-store chain. And even as that chainAppalachian Oilis crumbling, he's thankful to parent company Titan Global Holdings and the opportunities it presented him. "My feeling is that life's about experiences and opportunities, and Titan gave me the opportunity of my career," Anderson told CSP Daily News in an exclusive interview. "Titan gave me an incredible opportunity to become the president and CEO of the company, and I'm thankful for that."
While [image-nocss] the fate of Appalachian Oil (Appco) has yet to be determined, action taken in bankruptcy court Tuesday suggests the company will be sold in coming months. As reported in CSP Daily News yesterday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Marsha Parsons named NRC Realty Advisors' P.A. (Andy) Weber as chief restructuring officer for Appco, beginning the process of giving NRC the authority to sell the company and its 58 c-stores in Tennessee and Kentucky.
In his role, Weber will be responsible for all operational and financial matters of the company, as well as all efforts to market and sell the company's assets. It is part of a broader agreement between Appalachian Oil and its creditors, including principal secured creditor Greystone Business Credit II LLC, New York, to facilitate a sale of the company and its assets.
In connection with that agreement, the company will be filing an application with the court seeking to retain NRC Realty Advisors, Chicago, to serve as sales agent with respect to the marketing of the company and its assets.
Anderson said he expects to remain with the Blountville, Tenn.-based company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on February 9, 16 months after Titan Global Holdings, Dallas, took ownership of the company.
"It has been a difficult and challenging year and a half, and I've learned a lot. That's the silver lining for me: I've learned a lot; I've experienced a lot; I feel proud to reach that point in my career and the fact that we're at the point that we're at now through no fault of my own or the performance of the company is unfortunate," Anderson said. "I still wouldn't change anything if I had it to do over again in terms of accepting this opportunity and learning a lot."
When asked to share the tale of how Appco went from admired chain to fire sale, Anderson heaves a heavy sigh and laughs, "That's a long and winding road. As the Grateful Dead said, what a long, strange trip it's been."
Insisting that there's no bad blood between him and Titan, he said the collapse of the company he worked for for nine years was "a perfect storm of credit crises, the overall economy and a series of unfortunate events.... The reason we're where we are at is not because of Titan."
Watch for tomorrow's CSP Daily News for part 2 of this exclusive interview, in which Anderson explains when things went south for Appco and why 2008 was actually "a fantastic year" for the company.
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