Canadians may revive Ampol bid

Canada’s Couche-Tard may have suspended its plans to embark on a $8.8bn takeover bid for Ampol due to COVID-19, but some believe further signs have emerged it could return to the negotiating table.

Couche-Tard was in the running to buy Marathon Speedway’s service stations, based in the US. However, it emerged in recent days that Marathon had instead offloaded the assets to the 7-Eleven convenience store chain for $US21bn ($29bn) in what has so far been the largest US energy-related deal of the year.

The all-cash agreement with the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven, Seven & I Holdings, came less than a year after Marathon agreed to spin off its convenience store chain, known as Speedway, under pressure from activist investors including Elliott Management.

Some believe that after missing out on that acquisition, Couche-Tard will be more interested than ever in buying Ampol, formerly Caltex.

Ampol confirmed in April that Australia’s largest takeover deal had fallen victim to COVID-19 ructions, with it walking away due to heightened economic uncertainty from the pandemic and a falling oil price.

Yet the Canadian company still has aspirations to grow in markets such as Australia.

Ampol has not yet offered any insight into Couche-Tard’s intentions, with it remaining in blackout ahead of the delivery of its annual earnings.

In April, it was reported by The Australian that the Canadian convenience store giant Couche-Tard was able to secure financing but blamed the financial downturn for its decision to exit the deal until volatility eased, with the door still ajar to reboot a transaction once market jitters subside.

Couche-Tard described the market at the time as highly uncertain, but had mostly completed due diligence, which had not raised any material issues, according to Ampol.

Following a collapse of the Couche-Tard takeover, Ampol turned its attention to the sale of its 250 retail fuel sites, for which Charter Hall is now in exclusive due diligence to acquire.