Retail fuel station and convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (“ACT”) and its former affiliate, CrossAmerica Partners LP (“CAPL”), have agreed to pay a $3.5 million civil penalty to the FTC to settle allegations that they violated a 2018 order requiring divestitures of 10 retail fuel stations in Minnesota and Wisconsin to Commission-approved buyers no later than June 15, 2018.
The 2018 order settled FTC charges that ACT’s and CAPL’s acquisition from Holiday Companies of approximately 380 retail fuel stations with attached convenience stores in 10 states was anticompetitive because it would have increased the risk of both unilateral and coordinated anticompetitive effects in 10 local retail fuel markets.
The FTC alleges that ACT and CAPL violated the 2018 order by:
- failing to divest to one or more Commission-approved buyers by June 15, 2018, retail fuel stations in the Minnesota divestiture markets of Aitkin, Hibbing, Minnetonka, Mora, St. Paul, and St. Peter; and the Wisconsin divestiture markets of Hayward, Siren, and Spooner;
- failing to maintain the viability, marketability, and competitiveness of the Hibbing retail fuel station, and failing to divest the retail fuel station as an on-going business;
- failing to provide accurate and detailed information in compliance reports submitted in March, April, and May of 2018 about their efforts to divest; and
- failing to provide, in compliance reports from June 18, 2018, through at least June 19, 2019, a full description of efforts to comply with the 2018 order to maintain assets with regard to the Hibbing retail fuel station.
The Commission votes to authorize the staff to file the civil penalty complaint and to approve the proposed judgment, and to issue a Commission Statement were both 5-0. The FTC filed the complaint and proposed judgment in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Full Content: FTC
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
CVS Health Explores Potential Breakup Amid Investor Pressure: Report
Oct 3, 2024 by
CPI
DirecTV Acquires Dish TV, Creating 20 Million-Subscriber Powerhouse
Oct 3, 2024 by
CPI
South Korea Fines Kakao Mobility $54.8 Million for Anti-Competitive Practices
Oct 3, 2024 by
CPI
Google Offers Settlement in India’s Antitrust Case Regarding Smart TVs
Oct 3, 2024 by
CPI
Attorney Challenges NCAA’s $2.78 Billion Settlement in Landmark Antitrust Cases
Oct 3, 2024 by
nhoch@pymnts.com
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Refusal to Deal
Sep 27, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust’s Refusal-to-Deal Doctrine: The Emperor Has No Clothes
Sep 27, 2024 by
Erik Hovenkamp
Why All Antitrust Claims are Refusal to Deal Claims and What that Means for Policy
Sep 27, 2024 by
Ramsi Woodcock
The Aspen Misadventure
Sep 27, 2024 by
Roger Blair & Holly P. Stidham
Refusal to Deal in Antitrust Law: Evolving Jurisprudence and Business Justifications in the Align Technology Case
Sep 27, 2024 by
Timothy Hsieh