Dive Brief:
- HF Sinclair’s President and CEO Tim Go is taking a voluntary leave of absence for undisclosed reasons, the fuel distributor and refiner announced last week.
- Sinclair’s board of directors has elected Franklin Myers, current chairperson of the board, to temporarily take over Go’s duties. The board is now considering what future actions, whether interim or otherwise, should be taken regarding Sinclair’s president and CEO role, according to the announcement.
- Go’s sudden absence was announced shortly before Sinclair revealed that it’s launching a joint venture with c-store holding company UPOP Holdings that includes 30 new convenience retail sites across Colorado and New Mexico.
Dive Insight:
Sinclair noted in an SEC filing last week that Go’s leave of absence is not over any disagreement nor does it relate to the company’s operations, policies or practices. The executive has led Sinclair since May 2023. Meanwhile, Myers has been Sinclair’s board chair since 2019. There is no timetable for how long Go’s leave of absence will last.
Go’s absence may complicate Sinclair’s next steps as the company charts a major growth phase under temporary leadership. As part of the joint venture called Green Trail Fuels, Sinclair will supply fuel from its regional refineries to all 30 c-stores while UPOP operates the sites. Sinclair will hold a 50% non-operating economic interest in the venture.
Although the announcement did not share if Sinclair and UPOP intend to eventually expand the venture beyond 30 c-stores, it noted that the partnership offers “a scalable platform for future growth opportunities.”
“This joint venture represents a strategic step forward for our Marketing segment,” said Steve Ledbetter, executive vice president of commercial for Sinclair. “The establishment of this new partnership allows us to accelerate growth of the Sinclair brand at an expedited pace and capture synergies across our integrated asset base.”
It’s not clear how many of the 30 stores will be in Colorado versus New Mexico, although the venture will expand both Sinclair’s and UPOP’s existing networks across the two states. Prior to this deal, Sinclair already had over 180 branded c-stores in Colorado and another 26 in New Mexico. Meanwhile, UPOP has about nine JR’s Country Stores in Colorado and close to two dozen 7-2-11 branded locations in New Mexico.
Beyond growing its branded retail footprint, Sinclair said it expects the venture to create operational and logistics synergies as well as provide exposure to additional margin streams. Dallas-based Sinclair supplies fuel to more than 1,700 branded stations across 32 states and owns and operates refineries in New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Washington and Utah.
UPOP, meanwhile, continues to quietly expand its c-store network, which will reach about 60 locations with this venture. According to JR’s Country Stores’ website, UPOP was formed by a group of industry professionals in 2022 to “execute a buy-and-build strategy to create a fully integrated c-store platform in the Mountain West region.”
