Lehigh Gas Partners Commences IPO

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Motor fuels distributor Lehigh Gas Partners LP will commence an initial public offering (IPO) of its common units.

The company, a former division of Lehigh Gas Corp., is expected to sell 6 million units of its stock to the public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LGP.

In addition, the IPO underwriters, Raymond James & Associates Inc. and Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., will be granted a 30-day window to purchase an addition 900,000 common units of LGP assuming the IPO receives final approvals from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to media reports, Lehigh Gas Partners is expected to raise approximately $120 million in its IPO. The company expects each unit to be priced at between $19 and $21.

Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Gas Partners was formed to engage in the wholesale distribution of motor fuels and to own and lease real estate used in the retail distribution of motor fuels. Lehigh Gas Partners owns and leases sites in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Maine.

Lehigh Gas Partners operates as a master limited partnership (MLP). To become an MLP, a company must generate at least 90 percent of its income from what the Internal Revenue Service calls "qualifying" assets. The production, processing or transportation of oil are three things deemed as qualifying assets.

Lehigh Gas Partners initially announces its intent for an IPO in May. Lehigh Gas Partners is certainly not the only IPO in the convenience store industry. Just last month, Susser Holdings Corp. spun off its wholesale fuels division into an IPO called Susser Petroleum Partners.

Similarly, recently, Delek U.S. announced the proposed spinoff of its logistics business and Marathon Petroleum Corp. made public its intention to spin off its midstream assets into a company called MPLX LP.

Former parent company Lehigh Gas Corp. operates On the Run c-stores among its core businesses.