US: FTC requires Marathon to sell stores

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is requiring Marathon to sell five New York convenience stores to settle charges that its proposed acquisition of Express Mart would violate federal antitrust laws.

Marathon is the parent company of Speedway, headquartered in Enon, Ohio. The News-Sun reported earlier this year that Marathon acquired 78 stores held by Petr-All Petroleum Consulting Corporation under the Express Mart brand. The company plans to convert the stores to the Speedway brand. Speedway is the second largest company-owned convenience store chain in the US.

The FTC raised concerns Marathon’s acquisition would harm competition in five of the markets where the company is acquiring stores. They include Farmington, Fayetteville, Johnson City, Rochester, and Whitney Point.

“In three of the five retail diesel markets, the proposed acquisition would result in a merger to monopoly,” the FTC said in a news release. “In the fourth, the proposed acquisition would reduce the number of significant competitors from three to two. In the fifth, the proposed acquisition would reduce the number of significant competitors from four to three.”

Full Content: Springfield News Sun