Delek has begun a formal process to “unlock the value inherent in the retail business,” said President and CEO Avigal Soreq during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
During Q1, Soreq said the company retained investment bankers “to review strategic opportunities,” and that the process is progressing well. While officials did not share any details during the call, they said more information would be coming in the near future.
This news comes more than a year after speculation began on Delek possibly divesting its retail arm. At the time, Soreq had noted: “Our belief in retail is either you can go big all the way or you’re almost not relevant.”
Delek offered no timeline for an announcement of any changes based on the investment bank’s findings.
If Delek were to sell its roughly 250 convenience stores in West Texas and New Mexico, it would be among the largest deals so far this year.
Following last year’s parade of large-scale deals, this year so far has seen several large M&A deals. 7-Eleven kicked off the year with a 200-plus-site acquisition from Sunoco, bringing all of the Stripes stores back under one umbrella. In April, SQRL said it was selling its more than 300 stores to a company called Gas Hub Investments, based in Louisiana. In that same vein, Parkland put more than 150 of its stores up for sale and Andretti Petroleum sold its 170 locations to H&S Energy.
Smaller deals have included CrossAmerica Partners picking up 59 Applegreen sites, Kent Companies buying its first 13 stores in Alabama from DC Oil Company and U-Stop entering Kansas with the acquisition of Shop Quick’s 11 locations.
