Cooley LLP announced today that its antitrust team successfully persuaded the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and California Attorney General to close their nine month investigation of Tesoro Corporation’s proposed $1.175 billion acquisition of British Petroleum’s Southern California Refining and Marketing business. Cooley represented Tesoro on the antitrust aspects of the acquisition.
Tesoro closed the acquisition on June 3, 2013, according to a Tesoro press release. The purchase price for the assets was $1.075 billion, and inventory at market value and other working capital totaled another $1.350 billion.
Cooley received both FTC and California clearances for Tesoro by proving that the proposed acquisition would not raise gasoline prices or otherwise lessen competition in California, despite the FTC previously blocking several similar refinery acquisitions in California.
The Cooley antitrust team was led by Marc Schildkraut and included partners Howard Morse and Jacqueline Grise, as well as associates Grace Kwon, Sharon Connaughton, David Burns, Mike Herring, Megan Browdie and Tanisha James.
View the Tesoro press release here.
