Antitrust Lawyer Blog
On November 22, 2017, the FTC announced that retail fuel station and convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (“ACT”) agreed to divest three fuel stations in Alabama to settle FTC charges that ACT’s proposed acquisition of Jet-Pep, Inc. (“Jet-Pep”) would violate federal antitrust law.
Under the terms of the deal, ACT will acquire ownership or operation of 120 Jet-Pep fuel outlets with convenience stores – 18 via Circle K, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACT, and 102 via CrossAmerica Partners LP, over which Circle K has operational control and management.
According to the complaint, the acquisition would increase both the likelihood of successful coordination among the remaining firms and the likelihood that ACT will unilaterally exercise market power in three local retail fuel markets. The complaint alleges that without a remedy, the acquisition of Jet-Pep by ACT would reduce the number of independent market participants from three or fewer in Brewton, Monroeville, and Valley, Alabama.