After the sale, LUKOIL Americas will continue, through its subsidiary LUKOIL North America LLC, to operate its existing LUKOIL branded network in the Mid-Atlantic.
As reported in [image-nocss] a Morgan Keegan/CSP Daily News Flash yesterday, the management of Lukoil North America LLC informed Getty Realty Corp. on March 1 that OAO LUKoil had transferred its interest in Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary and Getty Realty's largest tenant, to an unrelated party on February 28, 2011.
Jericho, N.Y.-based Getty Realty has commenced a preliminary dialogue with the new management of Getty Petroleum Marketing, it said.
The new management of Getty Petroleum Marketing also informed Getty Realty that the monthly rental payment due under the master lease by close of business on March 1, 2011, will not be received when due but that Getty Petroleum Marketing expects to make the monthly rental payment on or before March 7, 2011. The company cannot provide any assurance that Getty Petroleum Marketing will meet its rental, environmental or other obligations under the master lease with the company, it said.
Getty Realty did not respond to a request for comment from CSP Daily News by press time.
Commenting on the transaction, Vadim Gluzman, CEO of LUKOIL Americas, said that "LUKOIL Americas will continue to focus its business strategy and future growth on its LUKOIL-branded assets."
Bjorn Aaserod, CEO of Cambridge Petroleum, said, "We are impressed with Getty's infrastructure, its excellent talent pool and growth prospects."
Getty was started in 1955, went public in 1971 and spun off Getty Petroleum Marketing in 1997. That company was bought by Lukoil, Russia's largest integrated oil company. Lukoil's stations currently lease 78% of Getty's properties. The other 22% are leased by individual operators.
As previously reported in CSP Daily News (click here), Getty's fortunes remain closely tied to those of Getty Petroleum Marketing. It ensures steady rental income to Getty under long-term leases through 2015, which also provide for annual 2% rent increases.
Getty Realty Corp. is the largest publicly traded real-estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States specializing in ownership and leasing of convenience store/gas station properties and petroleum distribution terminals. As of December 31, 2010, the company owned 907 properties and leased 145 properties. Its properties are located in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic regions in the United States. The company also owns or leases properties in Texas, North Carolina, Hawaii, California, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio and North Dakota. All of its properties are leased or sublet to distributors and retailers engaged in the sale of gasoline and other motor fuel products, convenience store products and automotive repair services. As of December 31, 2009, the company leased approximately 78% of its 1,061 owned and leased properties on a long-term, triple-net basis to Getty Petroleum Marketing.
East Meadow, N.Y.-based LUKOIL Americas is a subsidiary of Russia-based OAO LUKOIL, a major international vertically integrated energy company. LUKOIL Americas operates through its subsidiary a network of more than 600 LUKOIL branded outlets in the Mid-Atlantic.
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