Murphy USA to Offer $500M in Senior Notes

Murphy USA Inc., the El Dorado gasoline and convenience retailer with 1,500 locations around the country, announced Jan. 1 that it has priced a previously announced offering of debt in the form of senior notes.

It plans to use the money, in part, to finance its acquisition last month of QuickChek Corp., a New Jersey convenience chain that Murphy USA bought for $645 million.

The aggregate principal amount of the offering will be $500 million, guaranteed by Murphy USA and domestic subsidiaries. The offering is by subsidiary Murphy Oil USA Inc., and is expected to close Jan. 29, according to a company news release.

The notes, due in 2031, will bear interest at a rate of 3.75% a year, payable semiannually in arrears on Feb. 15 and Aug. 15 of each year, the release said. The notes will mature on Feb. 15, 2031.

Murphy USA said that if its cash acquisition of QuickChek’s 157 stores is not consummated,

it will use proceeds from the offering for “general corporate purposes, which may include funding future acquisitions,” the company said. QuickChek, based in Whitehouse Station, serves north and central New Jersey and the New York City metropolitan area.

The notes will not be registered under state or federal securities laws and will be offered “only to persons reasonably believed to be institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the Securities Act,” the release said.