Markets Wired

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final
Order settling charges that Pilot Corporation’s takeover of the travel center business of rival Flying J Inc. would have been anticompetitive and would have reduced competition in markets for diesel sold to certain long-haul trucking fleets. The order settling the FTC’s charges requires Pilot to sell 26 of its travel center locations to Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores, a smaller national travel center operator, which is currently concentrated in the South. The final Order contains two modifications to the order posted for public comment. The final Order requires notice for certain transactions and expands the Order’s firewall provisions.

The Commission vote approving the final Order and letters to members of the public who commented on it was 4-0-1, with Commissioner Julie Brill not participating. The Order can be found on the FTC’s website and as a link to this press release. (FTC File No. 091-0125; the staff contact is Mary N. Lehner, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-3744; see press release dated June 30, 2010.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s website at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.

(FYI 51.2010.wpd)