Murphy Oil is spinning off its new retail company, Murphy USA Inc., which includes 1,154 gasoline stations, mainly in the parking lots of Wal-Mart Supercenters.
Arkansas, and specifically El Dorado, will gain a new public company on Friday when Murphy Oil Corp. spins off its retail fuel station business into Murphy USA Inc.
The spinoff, which had been in the works since late 2011, will take place at the end of trading before the long Labor Day weekend. In approving the spinoff on Aug. 7, the board of directors of Murphy Oil said shareholders will receive one share of Murphy USA Inc. common stock – listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MUSA – for every four shares of Murphy Oil common stock held at the close of business on Aug. 21.
R. Andrew Clyde will be president and CEO of the new company, which will include the retail outlets, seven product distribution terminals and two ethanol production facilities in North Dakota and Texas.
The spinoff also marks the second retirement of Murphy Oil CEO Steven Cossé. He will be succeeded Friday by Roger Jenkins, who has been Murphy Oil’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Cossé had retired as Murphy Oil’s general council in March 2011 and then joined the board of directors a few months later, stepped in as president and CEO in June 2012, following the sudden departure of former CEO David Wood.
The S&P Dow Jones Indices announced last week that Murphy USA would immediately become a member of the S&P MidCap 400. Murphy Oil will remain part of the S&P 500. The S&P indices group companies by market capitalization.
El Dorado will now be home to three publicly traded companies – Murphy Oil, Murphy USA and Murphy Oil’s 1996 spinoff, Deltic Timber Corp. The only city in Arkansas with more public companies is Little Rock, where Dillard’s Inc., Bank of the Ozarks Inc., Acxiom Corp. and Windstream Corp. (soon to be Windstream Holdings Inc.) are headquartered.
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