DALLAS -- Though positioning itself to go public for going on three years now, Alon Brands appears to be on a continuing holding pattern, with its top executive playing the decision to act close to the vest.
Since the company filed the necessary paperwork in 2008, the effects of the recession and uncertain market activity have further muddied the decision to make an initial public offering (IPO).
Kyle McKeen, president and CEO of Alon Brands Inc., Dallas, told CSP Daily News, "We have a registration document filed, and we continue to assess the market for the right opportunity."
Alon Brands, a subsidiary of Alon USA Energy Inc., Houston, first filed documents for an IPO with the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2008. It put the project on the back burner in early 2009 as the U.S. economy faltered, noting that it was waiting for the economic tides to turn before putting much of its value in investors' hands.
"Fundamentally, what we want to do is be ready," then Alon USA president and CEO Jeff Morris said in February 2009. "I don't know when the market's going to open up, but whenever it is, we will be ready to open this up to the public."
Alon hoped to raise as much as $100 million from the IPO to upgrade stores, as well as expand foodservice efforts. "We're working on a hot-food program, and expanding fountain and coffee," McKeen said at the time of the filing. Since then, McKeen said work on the chain's operations and overall store cleanliness has translated into higher earnings, raising much-needed capital for these very efforts.
With the urgency lessened, one could assume operational improvements have further dampened the need to go public.
Alon Brands includes retail arms Southwest Convenience Stores LLC and Skinny's LLC, as well as Alon Marketing and SCS Beverage Inc.
Based in Dallas, Alon Brands is the largest 7-Eleven licensee in North America, marketing motor fuel products at more than 600 distributor-serviced locations in the Southwest. The company’s products also are sold at more than 300 additional company-owned locations in Texas and New Mexico.
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