Canadian fuel refiner and retailer Parkland Corp said on Wednesday it had launched a strategic review that could result in the sale of the company.
Calgary-based Parkland said the review was necessary to “maximize value creation for shareholders” and would explore the possibility of asset divestments, acquisitions and business combinations in addition to an outright sale.
“This thing is all about best value to our owners – I can’t tell you how that’s going to end up, but we’re going to look at everything,” Parkland Chair Michael Jennings said in an interview.
Parkland, which has a market value of about C$6 billion ($4.19 billion), has been under pressure with respect to its share price performance for more than two years.
Most prominent in this has been a dispute with Simpson Oil, its largest shareholder with a 20% stake. Simpson has called on Parkland to conduct a strategic review on numerous occasions, most recently in an open letter to Parkland’s board dated February 25.
Jennings said a dual aim of the strategic review was to help bring Simpson back into the fold, and the company was now inviting Simpson to rejoin the company’s board and participate in the strategic review.
Simpson has not had representation on the company’s board since the resignation of two Simpson-nominated directors in December 2023. No reason for the resignations was given at the time.
The strategic review announcement comes amid a widening trade war between the United States and Canada, triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on imports from its northern neighbor.
When asked about whether the trade war might impact buyer interest in Parkland from U.S. suitors, Jennings said much was up in the air right now and it was hard to predict how long a trade war might last.
“The announcement today really culminates a couple of months of looking hard at this, absent the trade environment, and we still think it’s the right thing to do,” he added.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary and David French in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed)