Different Getty Acquires Small Stake in Texaco
Getty Petroleum Corp. on Thursday joined two other investor groups building up stakes in Texaco, saying it has acquired about $14 million worth of shares in the oil company and plans to buy more.
Getty Petroleum--not the same Getty at the root of Texaco’s battle with Pennzoil that caused its bankruptcy filing last year--said it would seek government approval to buy more than $15 million of Texaco stock.
“We believe that Texaco is an excellent company which is substantially undervalued,” Getty President Leo Leibowitz said in a statement. “We are purchasing shares of Texaco for investment purposes at this time.”
TWA Chairman Carl C. Icahn and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens Jr. also have established footholds in Texaco, which is struggling to restructure after settling with Pennzoil last year.
No Raid Planned
Analysts said Getty may use its stake to position itself to buy some of Texaco’s refining operations and gas stations.
“They’re probably looking for a business relationship rather than making a quick buck,” said analyst Donna Hostetler of Crowell Weedon & Co., a Los Angeles brokerage.
Asked about the purchases, Texaco spokesman Peter Maneri said: “Our policy is not to comment.”
Getty said it is interested in buying assets to build its business, generally, and would consider buying Texaco properties if offered them.
“We are a company that has grown through acquisitions, and we’re always looking for new acquisitions,” Stephen Salzman, Getty’s treasurer, told Reuters.
May Want Leverage
Getty Petroleum, formerly the Power Test Corp., is one of the nation’s largest independent marketers of gasoline, heating oil and other petroleum products.
Several years ago, it bought most of Getty Oil Co.’s gasoline stations in the Northeast and adopted the Getty name. Getty Oil today is a Texaco subsidiary.
Hostetler and other analysts said Getty was not known to invest in speculative stocks, and they added it was too small to entertain takeover hopes.
But a small holding in Texaco might give Getty added leverage in possible future negotiations, said Kurt Wulff, an analyst with McDep Associates of Short Hills. N.J.
