Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (NYSE: ANW) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the U.S. East Coast bunkering business of Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES). This transaction, for a purchase price of $30 million, plus an amount to be paid for inventory, is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2013.
Hess Corporation is currently the leading marketer of marine fuels along the U.S. East Coast. The Hess bunkering operation and associated assets supply the heavily trafficked ports of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk and Charleston, and include approximately 250,000 cubic meters of leased tank storage. Over the last three years, these bunkering operations averaged 1.8 million metric tons in annual sales.
This transaction not only marks Aegean's entry into supplying customers in the U.S. but also enables Aegean to meaningfully expand its global full-service marine fuel platform and increase its exposure to U.S. clients worldwide, including leading cruise lines.
E. Nikolas Tavlarios, President of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, commented, "We are pleased to further diversify our geographic mix by capitalizing on this attractive, accretive opportunity for U.S. East Coast expansion. Hess Corporation has built a tremendous network and we are excited to apply our expertise and capabilities to these established operations. This transaction will require minimal start-up costs and is fully-aligned with our objective of strategically expanding our global presence while leveraging our existing infrastructure to increase revenues. We are confident that these operations will strengthen our business portfolio, bolster our customer reach, and create meaningful value for our shareholders."
Spyros Gianniotis, Chief Financial Officer of Aegean, said, "We are capitalizing on attractive growth opportunities to strengthen our position as the premier independent, physical supplier of marine fuel globally. These operations will provide the foundation to further expand our operations."
About Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. is an international marine fuel logistics company that markets and physically supplies refined marine fuel and lubricants to ships in port and at sea. The Company procures product from various sources (such as refineries, oil producers, and traders) and resells it to a diverse group of customers across all major commercial shipping sectors and leading cruise lines. Currently, Aegean has a global presence in 21 markets, including Vancouver, Montreal, Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Gibraltar, U.K., Northern Europe, Piraeus, Patras, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Morocco, the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) region, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Panama, Hong Kong, Barcelona and Algeciras, Spain. The Company has also entered into a strategic alliance to extend its global reach to China.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "plan," "potential," "may," "should," "expect" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.
In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include our ability to manage growth, our ability to maintain our business in light of our proposed business and location expansion, our ability to obtain double hull secondhand bunkering tankers, the outcome of legal, tax or regulatory proceedings to which we may become a party, adverse conditions in the shipping or the marine fuel supply industries, our ability to retain our key suppliers and key customers, material disruptions in the availability or supply of crude oil or refined petroleum products, changes in the market price of petroleum, including the volatility of spot pricing, increased levels of competition, compliance or lack of compliance with various environmental and other applicable laws and regulations, our ability to collect accounts receivable, changes in the political, economic or regulatory conditions in the markets in which we operate, and the world in general, our failure to hedge certain financial risks associated with our business, our ability to maintain our current tax treatments and our failure to comply with restrictions in our credit agreements and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.
