CrossAmerica Partners LP - Annual Report: 2017 (Form 10-K)

FORM 10-K

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017

OR

For the transition period from                             to                            

Commission File No. 001-35711

CROSSAMERICA PARTNERS LP

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Common units representing limited partner interests, $0.01 par value per share listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer ☐      Accelerated filer ☒      Non-accelerated filer ☐      Smaller reporting company ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates was approximately $479.4 million based on the last sales price quoted as of June 30, 2017 on the New York Stock Exchange, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

As of February 21, 2018, the registrant had outstanding 34,111,461 common units.

Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

COMMONLY USED DEFINED TERMS

The following is a list of certain acronyms and terms generally used in the industry and throughout this document:

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Form 10-K includes forward-looking statements, including in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Forward-looking statements include the information concerning our possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, financing plans, competitive position, credit ratings, distribution growth, potential growth opportunities, potential operating performance improvements, potential improvements in return on capital employed, the effects of competition and the effects of future legislation or regulations. You can identify our forward-looking statements by the words “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “expect,” “objective,” “projection,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “effort,” “target” and similar expressions. Such statements are based on management’s current views and assumptions, and involve risks and uncertainties that could affect expected results. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding:

In general, we based the forward-looking statements included in this quarterly report on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our company and the industry in which we operate. We caution you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance as they involve assumptions that, while made in good faith, may prove to be incorrect, and involve risks and uncertainties we cannot predict. In addition, we based many of these forward-looking statements on assumptions about future events that may prove to be inaccurate. Accordingly, our actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what we have expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Any differences could result from a variety of factors, including the following:

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You should consider the areas of risk described above, as well as those set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” included in this Form 10-K, in connection with considering any forward-looking statements that may be made by us and our businesses generally. We cannot assure you that projected results or events reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur. The forward-looking statements included in this report are made as of the date of this report. We undertake no obligation to publicly release any revisions to any forward-looking statements, to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated events after the date of this report.

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ITEMS 1., 1A. and 2. BUSINESS, RISK FACTORS AND PROPERTIES

Overview

We are a Delaware limited partnership primarily engaged in the wholesale distribution of motor fuel and the ownership and leasing of real estate used in the retail distribution of motor fuel. We also generate revenues from the operation of retail sites.

On June 28, 2017, a wholly owned subsidiary of Circle K, merged with and into CST, with CST surviving the Merger as an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Circle K. Circle K is a wholly owned subsidiary of Couche-Tard.

As a result of the Merger, Circle K indirectly owns all of the membership interests in the sole member of our General Partner, as well as a 21.1% limited partner interest in the Partnership and all of the outstanding IDRs of the Partnership. Circle K, through its indirect ownership interest in the sole member of our General Partner, has the ability to appoint all of the members of the Board and to control and manage the operations and activities of the Partnership. 

Our principal executive offices address is 515 Hamilton Street, Suite 200, Allentown, PA 18101, and our telephone number is (610) 625-8000. Our common units trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “CAPL.”

The financial statements reflect the consolidated results of the Partnership and its wholly owned subsidiaries. Our primary operations are conducted by the following consolidated wholly owned subsidiaries:

We conduct our business through two operating segments, Wholesale and Retail. As of December 31, 2017, we distributed motor fuel to over 1,200 sites located in 31 states (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin).

In 2015, we issued our common units as consideration in the purchase of equity interests in CST Fuel Supply and the real property associated with certain of CST’s NTI retail sites. In addition, we also issued, and may continue to issue, common units as payment to Circle K for charges and expenses incurred by us under the Amended Omnibus Agreement. There is no obligation for Circle K to accept common units representing limited partner interests in lieu of cash for amounts due under the Amended Omnibus Agreement. CST also acquired our common units through open market purchases from September 2015 through December 2015. At December 31, 2017, Circle K indirectly owned 21.1% of our limited partner interests.

Available Information

Our internet website is www.crossamericapartners.com. Information on this website is not part of this Form 10-K. Annual reports on our Form 10-K, quarterly reports on our Form 10-Q and our current reports on Form 8-K filed with (or furnished to) the SEC are available on this website free of charge, soon after such material is filed or furnished. In this same location, we also post our corporate governance guidelines, code of ethics and business conduct and the charters of the committees of our Board. These documents are available in print to any unitholder that makes a written request to CrossAmerica Partners L.P. Attn: Corporate Secretary, 515 Hamilton Street, Suite 200, Allentown, Pennsylvania 18101.

Couche-Tard’s internet website is corpo.couche-tard.com/en. Information on this website is not part of this Form 10-K. Annual and quarterly reports are available on this website free of charge. In this same location, Couche-Tard also posts its corporate governance guidelines, code of ethics and conduct and a description of the committees of the Couche-Tard Board. These documents are available in print to any stockholder that makes a written request to Alimentation Couche-Tard, Inc. Attn: Corporate Secretary, 4204 Industrial Boulevard, Laval, Quebec, Canada H7L 0E3.

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Operations

Wholesale Segment

Our primary operation is the wholesale distribution of motor fuel. Our Wholesale segment generated 2017 revenues of $1.9 billion. We are one of the ten largest independent distributors by motor fuel volume in the United States for ExxonMobil, BP and Shell, and we also distribute Chevron, Sunoco, Valero, Gulf, Citgo, Marathon and Phillips 66-branded motor fuels (approximately 86% of the motor fuel we distributed during 2017 was branded). We receive a fixed mark-up per gallon of motor fuel on approximately 85% of gallons sold to our customers. The remaining gallons are primarily DTW priced contracts with our customers. These contracts provide for variable, market based pricing. An increase in DTW gross profit results from the acquisition cost of wholesale motor fuel declining at a faster rate as compared to the rate retail motor fuel prices decline. Conversely, our DTW motor fuel gross profit declines when the cost of wholesale motor fuel increases at a faster rate as compared to the rate retail motor fuel prices increase.

Regarding our supplier relationships, a majority of our total gallons of motor fuel purchased are subject to discounts for prompt payment and other rebates and incentives, which are recorded within cost of sales. Prompt payment discounts are based on a percentage of the purchase price of motor fuel. As such, the dollar value of these discounts increase and decrease corresponding with motor fuel prices. Therefore, in periods of lower wholesale motor fuel prices, our gross profit is negatively affected and, in periods of higher wholesale motor fuel prices, our gross profit is positively affected (as it relates to these discounts). Based on our current volumes, we estimate a $10 per barrel change in the price of crude oil would impact our overall annual wholesale motor fuel gross profit by approximately $2 million related to these payment discounts.

The following table highlights the aggregate volume of motor fuel distributed by our Wholesale segment to each of our principal customer groups by gallons sold for the periods (in millions):

Independent Dealer Sites

Lessee Dealer Sites

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DMS Sites

Circle K Sites

Rental Income

We also generate revenues through leasing or subleasing our real estate. We own or lease real and personal property and we lease or sublease to tenants, the substantial majority of which are wholesale customers as described above. As such, we manage our real estate leasing activities congruently with our Wholesale segment. We own approximately 59% of our properties that we lease to our dealers or utilize in our retail business. Our lease agreements with third party landlords have an average remaining lease term of 6.2 years as of December 31, 2017. Not all of the rental income we earn is a qualified source of income under Section 7704(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. Rental income from Circle K is not qualifying income under Section 7704(d) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The following table presents rental income (in thousands), including rental income from commission agents that is included in the Retail segment, and the number of sites from which rental income was generated:

CST Fuel Supply

As of December 31, 2017, our total limited partner interest in CST Fuel Supply was 17.5%. We receive pro rata distributions from CST Fuel Supply related to CST Marketing and Supply’s distribution of motor fuel to the majority of CST’s U.S. retail sites.

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Retail Segment

Our Retail segment generated 2017 revenues of $492 million. We own or lease and operate retail sites. Subsequent to an acquisition, we evaluate the eventual long-term operation of each retail site acquired: (a) to be converted into a lessee dealer or (b) other strategic alternatives, including selling the site to Circle K for them to operate as a retail site. By converting retail sites into lessee dealers, we continue to benefit from motor fuel distribution volumes as well as rental income from lease or sublease arrangements while reducing operating expenses. For the year ended December 31, 2017, we converted three company operated retail sites in our Retail segment to lessee dealers in our Wholesale segment. As of December 31, 2017, we continue to operate 71 retail sites, including one liquor store to which we do not distribute fuel on a wholesale basis.

Commission Sites

Company Operated Sites

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The following chart depicts how motor fuel is procured and distributed to our customer groups and how convenience merchandise items are procured and distributed to our company operated retail sites. The chart also depicts the relationship of our real estate activities to our customer groups.

Business Strategy and Objective

Our primary business objective is to generate sufficient cash flows from operations to make quarterly cash distributions to our unitholders and, over time, to increase our quarterly cash distributions. The amount of any distribution is subject to the discretion of the Board, and the Board may modify or revoke the cash distribution policy at any time. Our Partnership Agreement does not require us to pay any distributions.

Our business strategy to achieve our objective of paying and, over time, increasing our quarterly cash distributions, is focused on the following key initiatives:

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We believe our competitive strengths will allow us to capitalize on our strategic opportunities, including:

Supplier Arrangements

We distribute Branded Motor Fuel under the Exxon, Mobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, Sunoco, Valero, Gulf, Citgo, Marathon and Phillips 66 brands to our customers. Branded Motor Fuels are purchased from major integrated oil companies and refiners under supply agreements. For the year ended December 31, 2017, our Wholesale segment purchased approximately 28%, 27% and 16% of its motor fuel from ExxonMobil, BP and Motiva, respectively. We purchase the motor fuel at the supplier’s applicable terminal rack price, which typically changes daily. Certain suppliers offer volume rebates or incentive payments to drive volumes and provide an incentive for branding new locations. Certain suppliers require that all or a portion of any such incentive payments be repaid to the supplier in the event that the sites are rebranded within a stated number of years. We also purchase unbranded motor fuel for distribution at a rack price. As of December 31, 2017, our supply agreements had a weighted-average remaining term of approximately 1.6 years.

We purchase fuel supplied to sites acquired in our Jet-Pep Asset acquisition from Circle K. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Significant Factors Affecting our Profitability—The Significance of Crude Oil and Wholesale Motor Fuel Prices on Our Revenues, Cost of Sales and Gross Profit” for additional discussion of the terms under which this fuel is purchased from Circle K.

Competition

Our Wholesale segment competes with other motor fuel distributors. Major competitive factors for us include, among others, customer service, price and quality of service and availability of products.

The convenience store industry is highly competitive and characterized by ease of entry and constant change in the number and type of retailers offering products and services of the type we sell in our retail sites. We compete with other retail site chains, independently owned retail sites, motor fuel stations, supermarkets, drugstores, discount stores, dollar stores, club stores and hypermarkets. Major competitive factors include, among others, location, ease of access, product and service selection, motor fuel brands, pricing, customer service, store appearance, and cleanliness.

Seasonality

Our business exhibits substantial seasonality due to our wholesale and retail sites being located in certain geographic areas that are affected by seasonal weather and temperature trends and associated changes in retail customer activity during different seasons. Historically, sales volumes have been highest in the second and third quarters (during the summer activity months) and lowest during the winter months in the first and fourth quarters.

Trade Names, Service Marks and Trademarks

We are a wholesale distributor of motor fuel for various major integrated oil companies and are licensed to market/resell motor fuel under their respective motor fuel brands.

We are not aware of any facts that would negatively affect our continuing use of any trademarks, trade names or service marks.

Environmental Laws and Regulations

We are subject to extensive federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to USTs, the release or discharge of materials into the air, water and soil, waste management, pollution prevention measures, storage, handling, use and disposal of hazardous materials, the exposure of persons to hazardous materials, greenhouse gas emissions, and characteristics, composition, storage and sale of motor fuel and the health and safety of our employees. We incorporate by reference into this section our disclosures included in Note 2 under the captions “Environmental Matters” and “Asset Retirement Obligations” and Note 10 under the caption “Asset Retirement Obligations” to the financial statements.

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Other Regulatory Matters

Our retail sites are subject to regulation by federal, state, and/or local agencies and to licensing and regulations by state and local health, sanitation, safety, fire and other departments relating to the development and operation of retail sites, including regulations relating to zoning and building requirements and the preparation and sale of food.

Our retail sites are also subject to federal, state and/or local laws governing such matters as wage rates, overtime, working conditions and citizenship requirements. At the federal, state and local levels where we operate, there are proposals under consideration from time to time to increase minimum wage rates and modify or restrict immigration policies.

Employees

The General Partner manages our operations and activities, Under the Amended Omnibus Agreement, employees of Circle K provide management services to us. As of December 31, 2017, pursuant to the Amended Omnibus Agreement, 92 employees of Circle K provided exclusive management services to us.

As of December 31, 2017, we had 604 employees who provide services to our Retail segment, all of whom are employed by one of our subsidiaries.

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RISK FACTORS

If any of the following risks were to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, we might not be able to pay distributions on our common units, the trading price of our common units could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. Also, please read “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Limited partner interests are inherently different from the capital stock of a corporation although many of the business risks to which we are subject are similar to those that would be faced by a corporation engaged in a similar business.

Risks Relating to Our Industry and Our Business

We may not have sufficient distributable cash from operations to enable us to pay our quarterly distribution following the establishment of cash available for distribution and payment of fees and expenses.

We may not have sufficient cash each quarter to pay quarterly distribution at current levels or at all.

The amount of cash we can distribute on our common units principally depends upon the amount of cash we generate from our operations, which will fluctuate from quarter to quarter based on, among other things:

In addition, the actual amount of cash we will have available for distribution will depend on other factors such as:

There is no guarantee that we will distribute quarterly cash distributions to our unitholders in any quarter.

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The amount of cash we have available for distribution to unitholders depends primarily on our cash flow rather than on our  profitability, which may prevent us from making cash distributions, even during periods when we record net income.

The amount of cash we have available for distribution depends primarily on our cash flow, and not solely on profitability, which will be affected by non-cash items. As a result, we may make cash distributions during periods when we record losses for financial accounting purposes and may not make cash distributions during periods when we record net income for financial accounting purposes.

If we are unable to make acquisitions on economically acceptable terms, our future growth and ability to increase distributions to unitholders will be limited.

Our strategy to grow our business and increase distributions to unitholders is dependent on our ability to make acquisitions that result in an increase in cash flow. Our growth strategy is based, in large part, on our expectation of ongoing divestitures of retail and wholesale fuel distribution assets by industry participants. We may be unable to make accretive acquisitions for any of the following reasons:

If we are unable to make acquisitions on economically acceptable terms, our future growth and ability to increase distributions to unitholders will be limited. In addition, if we consummate any future acquisitions, our capitalization and results of operations may change significantly. We may also consummate acquisitions, which at the time of consummation we believe will be accretive, but ultimately may not be accretive. If any of these events occurred, our future growth could be adversely affected.

Any acquisitions are subject to substantial risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

Any acquisitions involve potential risks, including, among other things:

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In addition, our ability to purchase or lease additional sites involves certain potential risks, including the inability to identify and acquire suitable sites or to negotiate acceptable leases or subleases for such sites and difficulties in adapting our distribution and other operational and management systems to an expanded network of sites.

Our reviews of businesses or assets proposed to be acquired are inherently imperfect because it generally is not feasible to perform an in-depth review of businesses and assets involved in each acquisition. Even a detailed review of assets and businesses may not necessarily reveal existing or potential problems, nor will it permit a buyer to become sufficiently familiar with the assets or businesses to fully assess their deficiencies and potential. For example, inspections may not always be performed on every asset, and environmental problems, such as groundwater contamination, are not necessarily observable even when an inspection is undertaken. Unitholders will not have the opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial and other relevant information that we will consider in determining the application of our funds and other resources toward the acquisition of certain businesses or assets.

Given Couche-Tard’s size and the magnitude of its acquisitions and our joint acquisitions with them, we may be subject to FTC review and be required to divest sites even in transactions with which we are not involved.

One of our business strategies is to expand within and beyond our existing locations through acquisitions, either on our own or through joint acquisitions with Couche-Tard. The FTC may review these acquisitions and, in certain cases, we or Couche-Tard may enter into consent decrees to remedy the FTC’s competitive concerns, including by divesting sites. The FTC may not view us as an independent competitor of Couche-Tard for purposes of its substantive antitrust analysis. As a result, FTC consent decrees may require us to make divestitures, even if the transaction is solely a Couche-Tard acquisition. Similarly, Couche-Tard, as the owner of our General Partner, may not support acquisitions that may result in overlaps between the target company and Couche-Tard assets. Further, the possibility of an extended FTC review, which may result in divestiture requests may render potential acquisitions uneconomic or put us at a disadvantage as compared to other bidders. In addition, FTC reviews are costly, potentially adding significant transaction costs, and may negatively impact or delay the execution of our acquisition strategy.

Volatility in crude oil and wholesale motor fuel costs affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

For the year ended December 31, 2017, motor fuel revenues accounted for 91% of our total revenues and motor fuel gross profit accounted for 41% of total gross profit. Wholesale motor fuel costs are directly related to, and fluctuate with, the price of crude oil. Volatility in the price of crude oil, and subsequently wholesale motor fuel prices, is caused by many factors, including general political conditions, acts of war or terrorism, instability in oil producing regions, particularly in the Middle East and South America, and the value of U.S. dollars relative to other foreign currencies, particularly those of oil producing nations. In addition, the supply of motor fuel and our wholesale purchase costs could be adversely affected in the event of a shortage or oversupply of product, which could result from, among other things, interruptions of fuel production at oil refineries, new supply sources, sustained increases or decreases in global demand or the fact that our motor fuel contracts do not guarantee an uninterrupted, unlimited supply of motor fuel.

Significant increases and volatility in wholesale motor fuel costs could result in lower gross profit dollars, as an increase in the retail price of motor fuel could impact consumer demand for motor fuel and convenience merchandise and could result in lower wholesale motor fuel gross profit dollars. Dramatic increases in oil prices reduce retail motor fuel gross profits, because wholesale motor fuel costs typically increase faster than retailers are able to pass them along to customers. In addition, significant decreases in oil prices and the corresponding decreases in wholesale motor fuel sales prices can result in lower revenues and gross profit margins, as our wholesale motor fuel gross profits include discounts from our suppliers calculated as a percentage of the cost of wholesale motor fuel. As the market prices of crude oil, and, correspondingly, the market prices of wholesale motor fuel, experience significant and rapid fluctuations, we attempt to pass along wholesale motor fuel price changes to our customers through retail price changes; however, we are not always able to do so immediately. The timing of any related increase or decrease in sales prices is affected by competitive conditions in each geographic market in which we operate. As such, our revenues and gross profit for motor fuel can increase or decrease significantly and rapidly over short periods of time and potentially adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and ability to make distributions to our unitholders. The volatility in crude oil and wholesale motor fuel costs and sales prices makes it extremely difficult to forecast future motor fuel gross profits or predict the effect that future wholesale costs and sales price fluctuations will have on our operating results and financial condition.

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Seasonality in wholesale motor fuel costs and sales, as well as merchandise sales, affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

Oil prices, wholesale motor fuel costs, motor fuel sales volumes, motor fuel gross profits and merchandise sales often experience seasonal fluctuations. For example, consumer demand for motor fuel typically increases during the summer driving season and typically falls during the winter months. Travel, recreation and construction are typically higher in these months in the geographic areas in which we operate, increasing the demand for motor fuel and merchandise that we sell. Therefore, our revenues are typically higher in the second and third quarters of our fiscal year. A significant change in any of these factors, including a significant decrease in consumer demand (other than typical seasonal variations), could materially affect our motor fuel and merchandise volumes, motor fuel gross profit and overall customer traffic, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Both the wholesale motor fuel distribution and the retail motor fuel industries are characterized by intense competition and fragmentation, and our failure to effectively compete could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

The markets for distribution of wholesale motor fuel and the sale of retail motor fuel are highly competitive and fragmented, which results in narrow margins. We have numerous competitors and some may have significantly greater resources and name recognition than we do. We rely on our ability to provide value added reliable services and to control our operating costs to maintain our margins and competitive position. If we were to fail to maintain the quality of our services, wholesale customers could choose alternative distribution sources and retail customers could purchase from other retailers, each decreasing our margins. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that major integrated oil companies will not decide to distribute their own products in direct competition with us or that large wholesale customers will not attempt to buy directly from the major integrated oil companies. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and our ability to make distributions.

Changes in credit or debit card expenses could reduce our gross profit, especially on motor fuel sold at our company operated retail sites.

A significant portion of our sales at our company operated retail sites involve payment using credit or debit cards. We are assessed fees as a percentage of transaction amounts and not as a fixed dollar amount or percentage of our gross profits. Higher motor fuel prices result in higher credit and debit card expenses, and an increase in credit or debit card use or an increase in fees would have a similar effect. Therefore, credit and debit card fees charged on motor fuel purchases that are more expensive as a result of higher motor fuel prices are not necessarily accompanied by higher gross profits. In fact, such fees may cause lower gross profits. Lower gross profits on motor fuel sales caused by higher fees may decrease our overall gross profit and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

General economic conditions that are largely out of our control could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

Recessionary economic conditions, higher interest rates, higher motor fuel and other energy costs, inflation, increases in commodity prices, higher levels of unemployment, higher consumer debt levels, higher tax rates and other changes in tax laws or other economic factors may affect consumer spending or buying habits, and could adversely affect the demand for motor fuel and convenience items we sell at our retail sites. Unfavorable economic conditions, higher motor fuel prices and unemployment levels can affect consumer confidence, spending patterns and miles driven, with many customers “trading down” to lower priced products in certain categories when unfavorable conditions exist. These factors can lead to sales declines in both motor fuel and general merchandise, and in turn have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A tightening of credit in the financial markets or an increase in interest rates may make it more difficult for wholesale customers and suppliers to obtain financing and, depending on the degree to which it occurs, there may be a material increase in the nonpayment or other nonperformance by our customers and suppliers. Even if our credit review and analysis mechanisms work properly, we may experience financial losses in our dealings with these third parties. A material increase in the nonpayment or other nonperformance by our wholesale customers and/or suppliers could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Changes in consumer behavior and travel as a result of changing economic conditions, labor strikes or otherwise could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

In the retail motor fuel industry, customer traffic is generally driven by consumer preferences and spending trends, growth rates for commercial truck traffic and trends in travel and weather. Changes in economic conditions generally, or in the regions in

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which we operate, could adversely affect consumer spending patterns and travel in our markets. In particular, weakening economic conditions may result in decreases in miles driven and discretionary consumer spending and travel, which affect spending on motor fuel and convenience items. In addition, changes in the types of products and services demanded by consumers or labor strikes in the construction industry or other industries that employ customers who visit our stores, may adversely affect our sales and gross profit. Additionally, negative publicity or perception surrounding motor fuel suppliers could adversely affect reputation and brand image, which may negatively affect our motor fuel sales and gross profit. Similarly, advanced technology and increased use of hybrid cars or cars using alternative fuels would reduce demand for motor fuel. Our success depends on our ability to anticipate and respond in a timely manner to changing consumer demands and preferences while continuing to sell products and services that remain relevant to the consumer and thus will positively impact overall merchandise gross profit.

Laws, regulations, technological, political and scientific developments regarding climate change and fuel efficiency may decrease demand for motor fuel.

Developments aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions’ contribution to climate change may decrease the demand or increase the cost for our major product, petroleum-based motor fuel. Attitudes toward this product and its relationship to the environment may significantly affect our effectiveness in marketing our product and sales. Government efforts to steer the public toward non-petroleum-based fuel dependent modes of transportation may foster a negative perception toward motor fuel or increase costs for our product, thus affecting the public’s attitude toward our major product. New technologies that increase fuel efficiency or offer alternative vehicle power sources or laws or regulations to increase fuel efficiency, reduce consumption or offer alternative vehicle power sources may result in decreased demand for petroleum-based motor fuel. We may also incur increased costs for our product, which we may not be able to pass along to our customers. These developments could potentially have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Future tobacco legislation, campaigns to discourage smoking, increased use of tobacco alternatives, increases in tobacco taxes and wholesale cost increases of tobacco products could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

Sales of tobacco products have historically accounted for a significant portion of our total sales of retail site merchandise. Increases in wholesale cigarette costs and tax increases on tobacco products, as well as future legislation, national and local campaigns to discourage smoking in the U.S., and increased use of tobacco alternatives such as electronic cigarettes, may have an adverse effect on the demand for tobacco products and therefore reduce our revenues and profits. Competitive pressures in our markets can make it difficult to pass price increases on to our customers. These factors could materially and adversely affect our retail price of cigarettes, cigarette unit volume and sales, merchandise gross profit and overall customer traffic. Reduced sales of tobacco products or smaller gross profits on the sales we make could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Currently, major cigarette manufacturers offer substantial rebates to retailers. We include these rebates as a component of our gross profit. In the event these rebates are no longer offered, or decreased, our profit from cigarette sales will decrease accordingly. In addition, reduced retail display allowances on cigarettes offered by cigarette manufacturers negatively affect gross profits. These factors could materially affect our retail price of cigarettes, cigarette unit volume and revenues, merchandise gross profit and overall customer traffic, which could in turn have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We are subject to extensive government laws and regulations, and the cost of compliance with such laws and regulations can be material.

Our business and properties are subject to extensive local, state and federal governmental laws and regulations relating to, among other things, environmental conditions, the sale of alcohol, tobacco and money orders, employment conditions, including minimum wage requirements, and public accessibility requirements. The cost of compliance with these laws and regulations can have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. In addition, failure to comply with local, state, provincial and federal laws and regulations to which our operations are subject may result in penalties and costs that could adversely affect our business and our operating results.

In certain areas where our retail sites are located, state or local laws limit the retail sites’ hours of operation or their sale of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, possible inhalants and lottery tickets, in particular to minors. Failure to comply with these laws could adversely affect our revenues and results of operations because these state and local regulatory agencies have the power to revoke, suspend or deny applications for and renewals of permits and licenses relating to the sale of these products or to seek other remedies, such as the imposition of fines or other penalties. Moreover, these laws may impact our sales volumes in general, as customers who purchase certain products such as alcoholic beverages typically buy other products when they shop. Laws that curtail the consumer’s ability to buy certain products at our retail sites may curtail consumer demand for other products that we sell.

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If a portion of our workforce were to create or become part of a labor union, we could be forced to increase our compensation levels in order to avoid work disruptions or stoppages. Any appreciable increase in the statutory minimum wage or unionization of our workforce could result in an increase in our labor costs and such cost increase, or the penalties for failing to comply with such statutory minimums, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Further, the Affordable Care Act requires us to provide additional health insurance benefits to our employees, or health insurance coverage to additional employees, and has increased our costs and expenses.

Any changes in the laws or regulations described above that are adverse to us and our properties could affect our operating and financial performance. In addition, new regulations are proposed from time to time which, if adopted, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We are subject to extensive government laws and regulations concerning our employees, and the cost of compliance with such laws and regulations can be material.

Regulations related to wages and other compensation affect our business. Any appreciable increase in applicable employment laws and regulations, including the statutory minimum wage, exemption levels or overtime regulations could result in an increase in labor costs and such cost increase, or the penalties for failing to comply with such statutory minimums, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Further, the Affordable Care Act and related reforms make and will continue to make sweeping and fundamental changes to the U.S. health care system. This requires us to provide additional health insurance benefits to the employees providing services to us, or health insurance coverage to additional employees, and as a result may increase our costs and expenses. In addition, we are directly and indirectly affected by new tax legislation and regulation and the interpretation of tax laws and regulations. This includes potential changes in tax laws or the interpretation of tax laws relating to incentive compensation such as profit interests. Changes in such legislation, regulation or interpretation could have an adverse effect on our incentive compensation structures and thereby could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Any changes in the employment, benefit plan, tax or labor laws or regulations described above or new regulations proposed from time to time, could have a material adverse effect on our employment practices, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We are subject to extensive federal, state and local environmental laws, and the cost of complying with such laws may be material.

Our operations are subject to a variety of environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to emissions to the air, discharges into water, releases of hazardous and toxic substances and remediation of contaminated sites. Under various federal, state and local laws and regulations, we may, as the owner or operator, be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of contamination at our current locations or our former locations, whether or not we knew of, or were responsible for, the presence of such contamination. In particular, as an owner and operator of motor fueling stations, we face risks relating to petroleum product contamination that other retail site operators not engaged in such activities would not face. The remediation costs and other costs required to clean up or treat contaminated sites could be substantial. Contamination on and from our current or former locations may subject us to liability to third parties or governmental authorities for injuries to persons, property or natural resources and may adversely affect our ability to sell or rent our properties or to borrow money using such properties as collateral.

In the U.S., persons who dispose of or arrange for the disposal or treatment of hazardous or toxic substances at third party sites may also be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of such substances at these disposal sites although such sites are not owned by such persons. Our current and historic operation of many locations and the disposal of contaminated soil and groundwater wastes generated during cleanups of contamination at such locations could expose us to such liability.

We are subject to extensive environmental laws and regulations regulating USTs and vapor recovery systems. Compliance with existing and future environmental laws regulating such tanks and systems may require significant expenditures. We pay fees to state “leaking UST” trust funds in states where they exist. These state trust funds are expected to pay or reimburse us for remediation expenses related to contamination associated with USTs subject to their jurisdiction. Such payments are always subject to a deductible paid by us, specified per incident caps and specified maximum annual payments, which vary among the funds.

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Additionally, such funds may have eligibility requirements that not all of our sites will meet. To the extent state funds or other responsible parties do not pay or delay payments for remediation, we will be obligated to make these payments, which, in the aggregate, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders. We can give no assurance that these funds or responsible third parties are or will continue to remain viable.

Motor fuel operations present risks of soil and groundwater contamination. In the future, we may incur substantial expenditures for remediation of contamination that has not been discovered at existing locations or locations which we may acquire. We regularly monitor our facilities for environmental contamination and record liabilities on our financial statements to cover potential environmental remediation and compliance costs when probable to occur and reasonably estimable. However, we can make no assurance that the liabilities we have recorded are the only environmental liabilities relating to our current and former locations, that material environmental conditions not known to us do not exist, that future laws or regulations will not impose material environmental liability on us or that our actual environmental liabilities will not exceed our reserves. In addition, failure to comply with any environmental regulations or an increase in regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Unfavorable weather conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

Our retail sites are located in regions throughout the U.S. that are susceptible to certain severe weather events , such as hurricanes, flooding, severe thunderstorms, snowstorms, tornadoes and extreme heat and cold. Inclement weather conditions could damage our facilities, our suppliers or could have a significant impact on consumer behavior, travel and retail site traffic patterns, as well as our ability to operate our retail sites. We could also be affected by regional occurrences, such as energy shortages or increases in energy prices, fires or other natural disasters. Besides these more obvious consequences of severe weather, our ability to insure these locations and the related cost of such insurance could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We could be adversely affected if we are not able to attract and retain a strong management team.

We are dependent on our ability to attract and retain a strong management team. If, for any reason, we are not able to attract and retain qualified senior personnel, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. We also are dependent on our ability to recruit qualified retail site and field managers. Failure to attract and retain these individuals at reasonable compensation levels could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We depend on three principal suppliers for the majority of our motor fuel. A disruption in supply or a change in our relationship with any one of them could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

ExxonMobil, BP and Motiva collectively supplied approximately 71% of our motor fuel purchases in 2017. We purchased approximately 28%, 27% and 16% of our motor fuel from ExxonMobil, BP and Motiva, respectively. A change of motor fuel suppliers, a disruption in supply or a significant change in pricing with any of these suppliers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We rely on our suppliers to provide trade credit terms to adequately fund our on-going operations.

Our business is impacted by the availability of trade credit to fund motor fuel purchases and inventory purchases of our retail sites. An actual or perceived downgrade in our liquidity or operations could cause our suppliers to seek credit support in the form of additional collateral, limit the extension of trade credit or otherwise materially modify their payment terms. Any material changes in the payments terms, including payment discounts, or availability of trade credit provided by our principal suppliers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

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Pending or future litigation could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Litigation and publicity concerning motor fuel or food quality, health and other issues could result in significant liabilities or litigation costs and cause consumers to avoid our retail sites.

Retail site businesses can be adversely affected by litigation and complaints from customers or government agencies resulting from motor fuel or food quality, illness or other health or environmental concerns or operating issues stemming from one or more locations. Additionally, we may become a party to individual personal injury, off-specification motor fuel, products liability, consumer protection act, contract disputes, wage and hour unemployment claims and other legal actions in the ordinary course of our business and we are occasionally exposed to industry-wide or class-action claims arising from the products we carry or industry-specific business practices. Adverse publicity about these allegations may negatively affect us, regardless of whether the allegations are true, by discouraging customers from purchasing motor fuel, merchandise or food at one or more of our retail sites. We could also incur significant liabilities if a lawsuit or claim results in a decision against us. Even if we are successful in defending such litigation, our litigation costs could be significant, and the litigation may divert time and money away from our operations and adversely affect our performance. Our defense costs and any resulting damage awards may not be fully covered by our insurance policies.

The dangers inherent in the storage and transport of motor fuel could cause disruptions and could expose us to potentially significant losses, costs or liabilities.

We store motor fuel in storage tanks at our retail sites. These operations are subject to significant hazards and risks inherent in storing and transporting motor fuel. These hazards and risks include, but are not limited to, fires, explosions, traffic accidents, spills, discharges and other releases, any of which could result in distribution difficulties and disruptions, environmental pollution, governmentally imposed fines or cleanup obligations, personal injury or wrongful death claims and other damage to our properties and the properties of others. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We depend on third party transportation providers for the transportation of substantially all of our motor fuel. Thus, a change of providers or a significant change in our relationship with any of these providers could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

Substantially all of the motor fuel we distribute is transported from motor fuel terminals to gas stations by third party carriers. A change of transportation providers, a disruption in service or a significant change in our relationship with any of these transportation carriers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We are subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations that govern the product quality specifications of the motor fuel that we distribute and sell.

Various federal, state and local agencies have the authority to prescribe specific product quality specifications to the sale of commodities. Changes in product quality specifications, such as reformulated fuels mandates, reduced sulfur content in refined petroleum products or other more stringent requirements for fuels, could reduce our ability to procure product and our sales volume, require us to incur additional handling costs, and/or require the expenditure of capital. If we are unable to procure product or to recover these costs through increased sales, our ability to meet our financial obligations could be adversely affected. Failure to comply with these regulations could result in substantial penalties.

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Our motor fuel sales in our Wholesale segment are generated under contracts that must be renegotiated or replaced periodically. If we are unable to successfully renegotiate or replace these contracts, then our business, financial condition and results of operations and ability to make distributions to unitholders could be adversely affected.

Our Wholesale segment’s motor fuel sales are generated under contracts that must be periodically renegotiated or replaced. We may be unable to renegotiate or replace these contracts when they expire, and the terms of any renegotiated contracts may not be as favorable as the contracts they replace. Whether these contracts are successfully renegotiated or replaced is often times subject to factors beyond our control. Such factors include fluctuations in motor fuel prices, counterparty ability to pay for or accept the contracted volumes and a competitive marketplace for the services offered by us. If we cannot successfully renegotiate or replace our contracts or must renegotiate or replace them on less favorable terms, sales from these arrangements could decline, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Further, we have contracts with certain multi-site lessee dealers, including DMS, that provide for the ability for each party to sever or recapture a certain number of sites from the contract. If sites are severed, we will need to replace the dealer, and it is possible that the agreement with the new dealer may not provide for an equivalent fuel margin and/or rental income stream, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

We rely on our IT systems and network infrastructure to manage numerous aspects of our business, and a disruption of these systems could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

We depend on our IT systems and network infrastructure to manage numerous aspects of our business and provide analytical information to management. These systems are an essential component of our business and growth strategies, and a serious disruption to them could significantly limit our ability to manage and operate our business efficiently. These systems are vulnerable to, among other things, damage and interruption from power loss or natural disasters, computer system and network failures, loss of telecommunications services, physical and electronic loss of data, security breaches and computer viruses, which could result in a loss of sensitive business information, systems interruption or the disruption of our business operations. To protect against unauthorized access or attacks, we have implemented infrastructure protection technologies and disaster recovery plans, but there can be no assurance that a technology systems breach or systems failure could not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our business and our reputation could be adversely affected by the failure to protect sensitive customer, employee or vendor data, whether as a result of cyber security attacks or otherwise, or to comply with applicable regulations relating to data security and privacy.

In the normal course of our business as a motor fuel and merchandise retailer, we obtain large amounts of personal data, including credit and debit card information from our customers. While we have invested significant amounts in the protection of our IT systems and maintain what we believe are adequate security controls over individually identifiable customer, employee and vendor data provided to us, a breakdown or a breach in our systems that results in the unauthorized release of individually identifiable customer or other sensitive data could nonetheless occur.

Cyber attacks are rapidly evolving and becoming increasingly sophisticated. A successful cyber attack resulting in the loss of sensitive customer, employee or vendor data could adversely affect our reputation, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and could result in litigation against us or the imposition of penalties. Moreover, a security breach could require that we expend significant additional resources to upgrade further the security measures that we employ to guard against cyber attacks.

Further, complying with continually evolving regulations associated with the protection of credit and debit card information is costly and taking these measures does not necessarily provide an offsetting financial benefit to us. Failure to comply with these regulations could cause us or our dealers to be required to discontinue operating. The cost of compliance and the ramifications of non-compliance could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

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Our debt levels and debt agreement covenants may limit our flexibility in obtaining additional financing and in pursuing other business opportunities.

We have a significant amount of debt. At December 31, 2017, we had $534.0 million of total debt and $37.3 million of availability under the revolving credit facility. Our credit agreement requires, among other things, that we have, after giving effect to any acquisition, at least $20.0 million, in the aggregate, of borrowing availability under the revolving credit facility and unrestricted cash on the balance sheet on the date of such acquisition. Our level of indebtedness could have important consequences to us, including the following:

Our ability to service our indebtedness will depend upon, among other things, our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. If our operating results are not sufficient to service our current or future indebtedness, we will be forced to take actions, such as reducing distributions, reducing or delaying our business activities, acquisitions, investments and/or capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing our indebtedness, or seeking additional equity capital or bankruptcy protection. We may not be able to effect any of these actions on satisfactory terms, or at all.

Our credit facility contains operating and financial restrictions that may limit our business, financing activities and ability to make distributions to unitholders.

The operating and financial restrictions and covenants in our credit facility and any future financing agreements could adversely affect our ability to finance future operations or capital needs or to engage, expand or pursue our business activities. For example, our credit facility may restrict our ability to:

Our credit facility will limit our ability to pay distributions upon the occurrence of the following events, among others:

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Our ability to comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in our credit facility may be affected by events beyond our control, including prevailing economic, financial and industry conditions. If market or other economic conditions deteriorate, our ability to comply with these covenants may be impaired. If we violate any of the restrictions, covenants, ratios or tests in our credit facility, the debt issued under the credit facility may become immediately due and payable, and our lenders’ commitment to make further loans to us may terminate. We might not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient funds to make these accelerated payments. In addition, our obligations under our credit facility will be secured by substantially all of our assets, and if we are unable to repay our indebtedness under our credit facility, the lenders could seek to foreclose on such assets.

We may not be able to lease sites we own or sub-lease sites we lease on favorable terms and any such failure could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

We may lease and/or sub-lease certain sites to lessee dealers, commission agents, Circle K or to DMS where the rent expense is more than the lease payments. If we are unable to obtain tenants on favorable terms for sites we own or lease, the lease payments we receive may not be adequate to cover our rent expense for leased sites and may not be adequate to ensure that we meet our debt service requirements. We cannot provide any assurance that the margins on our wholesale distribution of motor fuels to these sites will be adequate to off-set unfavorable lease terms. The occurrence of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

The operations at sites we own or lease are subject to inherent risk, operational hazards and unforeseen interruptions and insurance may not adequately cover any such exposure. The occurrence of a significant event or release that is not fully insured could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to unitholders.

The presence of flammable and combustible products at our sites provides the potential for fires and explosions that could destroy both property and human life. Furthermore, our operations are subject to unforeseen interruptions such as natural disasters, adverse weather and other events beyond our control. Motor fuels also have the potential to cause environmental damage if improperly handled or released. If any of these events were to occur, we could incur substantial losses and/or curtailment of related operations because of personal injury or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property and equipment, and pollution or other environmental damage.

We are not fully insured against all risks incident to our business. We may be unable to maintain or obtain insurance of the type and amount we desire at reasonable rates. As a result of market conditions, premiums and deductibles for certain of our insurance policies have increased and could escalate further. In some instances, certain insurance could become unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage. If we were to incur a significant liability for which we were not fully insured, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

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We are relying on DMI to indemnify us for any costs or expenses that we incur for environmental liabilities and third-party claims, regardless of when a claim is made, that are based on environmental conditions in existence prior to the closing of the IPO at our Predecessor’s sites. To the extent escrow accounts, insurance and/or payments from DMI are not sufficient to cover any such costs or expenses, our business, financial condition and results of operations and ability to make distributions to unitholders could be adversely affected.

The Amended Omnibus Agreement provides that DMI must indemnify us for any costs or expenses that we incur for environmental liabilities and third-party claims, regardless of when a claim is made, that are based on environmental conditions in existence prior to the closing of the IPO at our Predecessor’s sites. DMI is the beneficiary of escrow accounts created to cover the cost to remediate certain environmental liabilities. In addition, DMI maintains insurance policies to cover environmental liabilities and/or, where available, participates in state programs that may also assist in funding the costs of environmental liabilities. There are certain sites that were acquired by us in connection with the IPO with existing environmental liabilities that are not covered by escrow accounts, state funds or insurance policies. As of December 31, 2017, DMI had an aggregate of approximately $1.7 million of environmental liabilities on sites acquired by us that are not covered by escrow accounts, state funds or insurance policies. To the extent escrow accounts, insurance and/or payments from DMI are not sufficient to cover any such costs or expenses, our business, liquidity and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Risks Inherent in an Investment in Us

Couche-Tard controls us and may have conflicts of interest with us.

Couche-Tard controls and manages the operations and activities of the Partnership, including the election of our Board; decisions regarding mergers, consolidations or acquisitions, the sale of all or substantially all of our assets and other matters affecting our capital structure; and other significant decisions that could impact our financial results and the amount of cash available for distribution to our unitholders. In addition, Couche-Tard may compete directly with us for future acquisitions, which may conflict with our core strategy to grow our business and increase distributions to unitholders. As long as Couche-Tard owns all of the membership interests in the sole member of our General Partner, it will effectively control our decisions, operations and activities.

Couche-Tard owns all of the membership interests in the sole member of our General Partner, which has sole responsibility for conducting our business and managing our operations. Our General Partner and its affiliates, including Couche-Tard, have conflicts of interest with us and limited fiduciary duties and they may favor their own interests to the detriment of us and our unitholders.

Couche-Tard owns the sole member of and controls our General Partner and has the ability to appoint all of the directors of our Board. Although our General Partner has a legal duty to manage us in good faith, the General Partner and its executive officers (as employees of affiliates of Couche-Tard) have a fiduciary duty to manage our General Partner in a manner beneficial to its owner, Couche-Tard. Furthermore, certain officers of our General Partner are directors of our Board or officers of affiliates of our General Partner. Therefore, conflicts of interest may arise between us and our unitholders, on the one hand, and our General Partner and its affiliates, including Couche-Tard, on the other hand. In resolving these conflicts of interest, under the Partnership Agreement, our General Partner may favor its own interests and the interests of Couche-Tard over our interests and the interests of our common unitholders. These conflicts include the following situations, among others:

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Couche-Tard or the Board may modify or revoke our cash distribution policy at any time at their discretion. Our Partnership Agreement does not require us to pay any distributions at all.

The Board has adopted a cash distribution policy pursuant to which we intend to distribute quarterly an amount at least equal to the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.4375 per unit on all of our units to the extent we have sufficient cash from our operations after the establishment of reserves and the payment of our expenses. However, Couche-Tard, as the owner of our General Partner, or the Board may change such policy at any time at their discretion and could elect not to pay distributions for one or more quarters. In addition, our credit facility includes specified restrictions on our ability to make distributions.

Our Partnership Agreement does not require us to pay any distributions at all. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the permanence of our distribution policy in making an investment decision. Any modification or revocation of our cash distribution policy could substantially reduce or eliminate the amounts of distributions to our unitholders. The amount of distributions we make, if any, and the decision to make any distribution at all will be determined by Couche-Tard as the owner of all of the membership interests in the sole member of our General Partner, whose interests may differ from those of our common unitholders.

We rely on the employees of Couche-Tard to provide key management services to our business pursuant to the Amended Omnibus Agreement. If our Amended Omnibus Agreement were to be terminated, we may not be able to find suitable replacements to perform such services for us without interruption to our business or increased costs.

Under our Amended Omnibus Agreement, Couche-Tard provides us with the personnel necessary to support our management, administrative and operating services, including accounting, tax, legal, internal audit, risk management and compliance, environmental compliance and remediation management oversight, treasury, information technology and other administrative functions, as well as the management and operation of our wholesale distribution and retail business. If our Amended Omnibus Agreement is terminated, we may suffer interruptions to our business or increased costs to replace these services.

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Distributions with respect to our 17.5% interest in CST Fuel Supply are at the discretion of Couche-Tard.

Couche-Tard controls the general partner of CST Fuel Supply and its wholly owned subsidiary, CST Marketing and Supply. The Partnership owns a 17.5% limited partner interest in CST Fuel Supply and derives substantial economic benefit from distributions made by CST Fuel Supply; however, there is no contractual obligation on Couche-Tard to cause CST Fuel Supply to make distributions, and the decisions as to timing and amount of any distributions are controlled by Couche-Tard. Any decrease in the distributions from CST Fuel Supply with respect to our interest could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

The liability of DMI and Couche-Tard is limited under our Amended Omnibus Agreement and we have agreed to indemnify DMI and Couche-Tard against certain liabilities, which may expose us to significant expenses.

The Amended Omnibus Agreement provides that we must indemnify DMI and Couche-Tard for certain liabilities, including any liabilities incurred by Couche-Tard attributable to the operating and administrative services provided to us under the agreement, other than liabilities resulting from DMI’s or Couche-Tard’s bad faith, fraud, or willful misconduct, as applicable.

Our General Partner has and intends to limit its liability regarding our obligations.

Our General Partner has and intends to limit its liability under contractual arrangements between us and third parties so that the counterparties to such arrangements have recourse only against our assets, and not against our General Partner or its assets. Our General Partner may therefore cause us to incur indebtedness or other obligations that are nonrecourse to our General Partner. Our Partnership Agreement provides that any action taken by our General Partner to limit its liability is not a breach of our General Partner’s fiduciary duties, even if we could have obtained more favorable terms without the limitation on liability. In addition, we are obligated to reimburse or indemnify our General Partner to the extent that it incurs obligations on our behalf. Any such reimbursement or indemnification payments would reduce the amount of cash otherwise available for distribution to our unitholders.

If we distribute a significant portion of our cash available for distribution to our partners, our ability to grow and make acquisitions could be limited.

We may determine to distribute a significant portion of our cash available for distribution to our unitholders. In addition, we expect to rely primarily upon external financing sources, including commercial bank borrowings and the issuance of debt and equity securities, to fund our acquisitions and expansion capital expenditures. To the extent we are unable to finance growth externally, distributing a significant portion of our cash available for distribution may impair our ability to grow.

In addition, if we distribute a significant portion of our cash available for distribution, our growth may lag behind the growth of businesses that reinvest all of their cash to expand ongoing operations. To the extent we issue additional units in connection with any acquisitions or expansion capital expenditures, the payment of distributions on those additional units may increase the risk that we will be unable to maintain or increase our per unit distribution level. There are no limitations in our Partnership Agreement or our credit facility on our ability to issue additional units, provided there is no default under the credit facility. The incurrence of additional commercial borrowings or other debt to finance our growth strategy would result in increased interest expense, which, in turn, may impact the cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our Partnership Agreement replaces, eliminates and modifies, as applicable, the duties, including the fiduciary duties, of our General Partner, the Board or any committee thereof, and modifies the burden of proof in any action brought against the General Partner, the Board or any committee thereof.

Our Partnership Agreement contains provisions that modify the duties of the General Partner, including the fiduciary duties of the General Partner, and restricts the remedies available to unitholders for actions taken by our General Partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty under Delaware partnership law. For example, our Partnership Agreement:

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By purchasing a common unit, a unitholder is treated as having consented to the provisions in the Partnership Agreement, including the provisions discussed above.

Our General Partner’s affiliates, including Couche-Tard, may compete with us.

Our Partnership Agreement provides that our General Partner will be restricted from engaging in any business activities other than acting as our General Partner and those activities incidental to its ownership interest in us. Except as provided in the Amended Omnibus Agreement, affiliates of our General Partner are not prohibited from engaging in other businesses or activities, including those that might be in direct competition with us.

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Pursuant to the terms of our Partnership Agreement, the doctrine of corporate opportunity, or any analogous doctrine, does not apply to our General Partner, Couche-Tard or any of their affiliates, including their executive officers and directors. Any such person or entity that becomes aware of a potential transaction, agreement, arrangement or other matter that may be an opportunity for us will not have any duty to communicate or offer such opportunity to us. Any such person or entity will not be liable to us or to any limited partner for breach of any fiduciary duty or other duty by reason of the fact that such person or entity pursues or acquires such opportunity for itself, directs such opportunity to another person or entity or does not communicate such opportunity or information to us. This may create actual and potential conflicts of interest between us and affiliates of our General Partner and result in less than favorable treatment of us and our unitholders. Conflicts of interest may arise in the future between us and our unitholders, on the one hand, and the affiliates of our General Partner and Couche-Tard, on the other hand. In resolving these conflicts, Couche-Tard may favor its own interests over the interests of our unitholders.

Couche-Tard, as the holder of our IDRs, may elect to cause us to issue common units to the holders of our IDRs in connection with a resetting of the target distribution levels related to the IDRs, without the approval of the independent conflicts committee of the Board or the holders of our common units. This could result in lower distributions to holders of our common units.

Under the Partnership Agreement, the holders of our IDRs have the right, at any time when the holders of our IDRs have received incentive distributions at the highest level to which they are entitled (50%) for each of the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters, to reset the initial target distribution levels at higher levels based on our distributions at the time of the exercise of the reset election. Following such a reset election, the minimum quarterly distribution will be adjusted to equal the reset minimum quarterly distribution and the target distribution levels will be reset to correspondingly higher levels based on percentage increases above the reset minimum quarterly distribution.

If the holder of our IDRs elects to reset the target distribution levels, it will be entitled to receive a number of common units. The number of common units to be issued to the holder of our IDRs will equal the number of common units that would have entitled the holder of our IDRs to an aggregate quarterly cash distribution in the prior quarter equal to the distributions to the holder of our IDRs on the IDRs in the prior quarter. It is possible that the holder of our IDRs could exercise this reset election at a time when it is experiencing, or expects to experience, declines in the cash distributions that the holder of our IDRs receives related to the IDRs and may, therefore, desire to be issued common units rather than retain the right to receive IDRs based on the initial target distribution levels. This risk could be elevated if our IDRs are transferred to another party. As a result, a reset election may cause our common unitholders to experience a reduction in the amount of cash distributions that our common unitholders would have otherwise received had we not issued new common units to the holder of our IDRs in connection with resetting the target distribution levels.

Holders of our common units have limited voting rights and are not entitled to elect our General Partner or the directors of the Board, which could reduce the price at which the common units will trade.

Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, unitholders have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business and, therefore, limited ability to influence management’s decisions regarding our business. Unitholders will have no right on an annual or ongoing basis to elect the members of our Board. The Board, including the independent directors, is chosen entirely by Couche-Tard, as a result of its ownership of all the membership interests in the sole member of our General Partner, and not by our unitholders. Unlike publicly traded corporations, we will not conduct annual meetings of our unitholders to elect directors or conduct other matters routinely conducted at annual meetings of stockholders of corporations. As a result of these limitations, the price at which the common units will trade could be diminished because of the absence or reduction of a takeover premium in the trading price.

Even if holders of our common units are dissatisfied, they may not be able to remove our General Partner.

If our unitholders are dissatisfied with the performance of our General Partner, they will have limited ability to remove our General Partner. The vote of the holders of at least 66 2⁄3% of all outstanding common units voting together as a single class is required to remove our General Partner. As of February 21, 2018, Circle K owned approximately 21.1% of our outstanding common units and the Topper Group, including DMI, owned approximately 22.4% of our outstanding common units. Pursuant to a voting agreement, dated October 1, 2014, the Topper Group agreed to vote such units in accordance with the recommendation of the Board, allowing Couche-Tard to effectively block the removal of the General Partner. The voting agreement will remain in effect so long as Mr. Topper is the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the outstanding common units of the Partnership.

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Our General Partner interest or the control of our General Partner may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.

Our General Partner may transfer its General Partner interest to a third party in a merger or in a sale of all or substantially all of its assets without the consent of our unitholders. Furthermore, our Partnership Agreement does not restrict the ability of the members of our General Partner to transfer its membership interests in the sole member of our General Partner to a third party. The new members of our General Partner would then be in a position to replace the Board and executive officers of our General Partner with their own designees and thereby exert significant control over the decisions taken by the Board and executive officers of our General Partner. This effectively permits a “change of control” without the vote or consent of the unitholders.

Our General Partner has a call right that may require unitholders to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price.

If at any time our General Partner and its affiliates hold more than 80% of the common units, our General Partner will have the right, but not the obligation, which it may assign to any of its affiliates or to us, to acquire all, but not less than all, of the common units held by unaffiliated persons at a price equal to the greater of (1) the average of the daily closing price of the common units over the 20 trading days preceding the date three days before notice of exercise of the call right is first mailed and (2) the highest per-unit price paid by our General Partner or any of its affiliates for common units during the 90-day period preceding the date such notice is first mailed. As a result, unitholders may be required to sell their common units at an undesirable time or price and may not receive any return or a negative return on their investment. Unitholders may also incur a tax liability upon a sale of their units. Our General Partner is not obligated to obtain a fairness opinion regarding the value of the common units to be repurchased by it upon exercise of the call right. There is no restriction in our Partnership Agreement that prevents our General Partner from issuing additional common units and exercising its call right. If our General Partner exercised its call right, the effect would be to take us private and, if the units were subsequently deregistered, we would no longer be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. As of December 31, 2017, Circle K owned approximately 21.1% of our outstanding common units.

The market price of our common units could be adversely affected by sales of substantial amounts of our common units in the public or private markets, including sales by the Topper Group, DMI or other large holders.

As of February 21, 2018, we had 34,111,461 common units outstanding. Sales by the Topper Group, DMI or other large holders such as Couche-Tard, of a substantial number of our common units in the public markets, or the perception that such sales might occur, could have a material adverse effect on the price of our common units or could impair our ability to obtain capital through an offering of equity securities. In addition, we have agreed to provide registration rights to the Topper Group, including DMI. Under our Partnership Agreement and pursuant to a registration rights agreement that we have entered into, the Topper Group and DMI have registration rights relating to the offer and sale of any units that they hold, subject to certain limitations.

We may issue unlimited additional units without unitholder approval, which would dilute existing unitholder ownership interests.

Our Partnership Agreement does not limit the number of additional limited partner interests, including limited partner interests that rank senior to the common units that we may issue at any time without the approval of our unitholders. The issuance of additional common units or other equity interests of equal or senior rank could have the following effects:

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Our General Partner’s discretion in establishing cash reserves may reduce the amount of cash available for distribution to unitholders.

The Partnership Agreement requires our General Partner to deduct from operating surplus cash reserves that it determines are necessary to fund our future operating expenditures. The General Partner may reduce cash available for distribution by establishing cash reserves for the proper conduct of our business, to comply with applicable law or agreements to which we are a party or to provide funds for future distributions to partners. These cash reserves will affect the amount of cash available for distribution to unitholders.

Our Partnership Agreement restricts the voting rights of unitholders owning 20% or more of our common units.

Our Partnership Agreement restricts unitholders’ voting rights by providing that any units held by a person or group that owns 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, other than our General Partner and its affiliates, their transferees and persons who acquired such units with the prior approval of the Board, cannot vote on any matter.

Management fees and cost reimbursements due to our General Partner and Couche-Tard for services provided to us or on our behalf will reduce cash available for distribution to our unitholders. The amount and timing of such reimbursements will be determined by our General Partner.

Prior to making any distribution on our common units, we will pay Couche-Tard the management fee and reimburse our General Partner and Couche-Tard for all out-of-pocket third-party expenses they incur and payments they make on our behalf, pursuant to the Amended Omnibus Agreement. Our Partnership Agreement provides that our General Partner will determine in good faith the expenses that are allocable to us. In addition, pursuant to the Amended Omnibus Agreement, Couche-Tard will be entitled to reimbursement for certain expenses that they incur on our behalf. Our Partnership Agreement does not limit the amount of expenses for which our General Partner and Couche-Tard may be reimbursed. The reimbursement of expenses and payment of fees, if any, to our General Partner and Couche-Tard will reduce the amount of cash available to pay distributions to our unitholders.

Unitholders may have liability to repay distributions and in certain circumstances may be personally liable for the obligations of the partnership.

Under certain circumstances, unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to them. Under Section 17-607 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act (the “Delaware Act”), we may not make a distribution to our unitholders if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Delaware law provides that for a period of three years from the date of the impermissible distribution, limited partners who received the distribution and who knew at the time of the distribution that it violated Delaware law will be liable to the limited partnership for the distribution amount. Liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interests and liabilities that are non-recourse to the partnership are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted.

It may be determined that the right, or the exercise of the right by the limited partners as a group, to (i) remove or replace our General Partner, (ii) approve some amendments to our Partnership Agreement or (iii) take other action under our Partnership Agreement constitutes “participation in the control” of our business. A limited partner that participates in the control of our business within the meaning of the Delaware Act may be held personally liable for our obligations under the laws of Delaware, to the same extent as our General Partner. This liability would extend to persons who transact business with us under the reasonable belief that the limited partner is a General Partner. Neither our Partnership Agreement nor the Delaware Act specifically provides for legal recourse against our General Partner if a limited partner were to lose limited liability through any fault of our General Partner.

The NYSE does not require a publicly traded partnership like us to comply with certain of its corporate governance requirements.

Our common units are listed on the NYSE. Because we are a publicly traded partnership, the NYSE does not require us to have a majority of independent directors on our Board. Additionally, the NYSE does not require us as a publicly traded partnership to maintain a compensation committee or a nominating and corporate governance committee.

Accordingly, unitholders will not have the same protections afforded to corporations (other than “controlled companies”) that are subject to all of the NYSE corporate governance requirements.

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An increase in interest rates may cause the market price of our common units to decline and a significant increase in interest rates could adversely affect our ability to service our indebtedness.

Like all equity investments, an investment in our common units is subject to certain risks. Borrowings under the credit facility will bear interest at variable rates. If market interest rates increase, such variable-rate debt will create higher debt service requirements, which could adversely affect our cash flow and ability to make cash distributions. In exchange for accepting these risks, investors may expect to receive a higher rate of return than would otherwise be obtainable from lower-risk investments. Accordingly, as interest rates rise, the ability of investors to obtain higher risk-adjusted rates of return by purchasing government-backed debt securities may cause a corresponding decline in demand for riskier investments generally, including yield-based equity investments such as publicly traded limited partnership interests. Reduced demand for our common units resulting from investors seeking other more favorable investment opportunities may cause the trading price of our common units to decline.

The interest rate on our credit facility is variable; therefore, we have exposure to movements in interest rates. A significant increase in interest rates could adversely affect our ability to service our indebtedness. The increased cost could make the financing of our business activities more expensive. These added expenses could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Tax Risks

Our tax treatment depends in large part on our status as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and our otherwise not being subject to a material amount of U.S. federal, state and local income or franchise tax. If the IRS were to treat us as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes or if we were to otherwise be subject to a material amount of additional entity level income, franchise or other taxation for U.S. federal, state or local tax purposes, then our cash available for distribution to our unitholders would be substantially reduced.

The anticipated after-tax benefit of an investment in our common units depends largely on our being treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. First, a partnership is exempt from U.S. federal income tax, and the partnership’s income is instead allocated to the partners for inclusion on their tax returns. Second, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the partner may also deduct from the partnership’s taxable income allocable to such partner an amount equal to 20% of such qualified business income (subject to certain limits), resulting in a lower effective tax rate for the partner with respect to the partnership’s income. A publicly traded partnership, such as us, may be treated as a corporation, instead of being treated as a partnership, for U.S. federal income tax purposes unless 90% or more of its gross income for every taxable year it is publicly traded consists of qualifying income. Based on our current operations we believe that we will be able to satisfy this requirement and, thus, be able to be treated as a partnership, rather than a corporation, for U.S. federal income tax purposes. However, a change in our business, or a change in current law, could also cause us to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes or otherwise subject us to entity-level taxation.

If we were required to be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes or otherwise subject to entity-level taxation, then we would pay U.S. federal income tax on our taxable income at the corporate tax rate which, under current law, is 21%. We would also likely pay state and local income tax at varying rates. Distributions to our unitholders would generally be taxed again as either a dividend (to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits) and/or as taxable gain after recovery of a unitholder’s U.S. federal income tax basis in their units, and no income, gains, losses, deductions or credits would flow through to our unitholders. Because a U.S. federal income tax would be imposed upon us as a corporation, our cash available for distribution to our unitholders would be substantially reduced. Thus, treatment of us as a corporation would result in a material reduction in the anticipated cash flow and after-tax return to our unitholders, likely causing a substantial reduction in the value of our common units.

At the state level, were we to be subject to federal income tax, we would also be subject to the income tax provisions of many states. Moreover, because of widespread state budget deficits and other reasons, several states are evaluating ways to independently subject partnerships to entity-level taxation through the imposition of state income taxes, franchise taxes and other forms of taxation. Imposition of any additional such taxes on us or an increase in the existing tax rates would reduce the cash available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our Partnership Agreement provides that if a law is enacted or existing law is modified or interpreted in a manner that results in us becoming subject to either: (a) entity-level taxation for U.S. federal, state, local and/or foreign income and/or withholding tax purposes to which we were not subject prior to such enactment, modification or interpretation, and/or (b) an increased amount of one or more of such taxes (including as a result of an increase in tax rates), then the minimum quarterly distribution amounts and the target distribution amounts may be adjusted (i.e., reduced) to reflect the impact of that law on us.

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We have subsidiaries that are treated as corporations for U.S. federal income tax purposes and are subject to entity-level U.S. federal, state and local income and franchise tax.

We conduct a portion of our operations and business through one or more direct and indirect subsidiaries that are treated as corporations for federal income tax purposes (including LGWS). We may elect to conduct additional operations through these corporate subsidiaries in the future. These corporate subsidiaries are subject to corporate-level taxes, which reduce the cash available for distribution to us and, in turn, to unitholders. If the IRS were to successfully assert that these corporations have more tax liability than we anticipate or legislation were enacted that increased the corporate tax rate, our cash available for distribution to unit holders would be further reduced.

A significant amount of our income is attributable to our leasing of real property to DMS. If DMS were to become related to us for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the real property rents that we receive from DMS would no longer constitute qualifying income and we would likely be treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

A significant amount of our qualifying income is composed of real property rents from DMS attributable to the sites that DMS leases from us. In general, any real property rents that we receive from a tenant or sub-tenant of ours in which we, directly or indirectly, own or are treated as owning by reason of the application of certain constructive ownership rules: (a) at least 10% of such tenant’s or sub-tenant’s stock (voting power or value) in the case where such tenant or sub-tenant is a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, or (b) an interest of at least 10% of such tenant’s or sub-tenant’s assets or net profits in the case where such tenant or sub-tenant is not a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes (as would be the case with respect to DMS), would not constitute qualifying income. After applying certain constructive ownership rules, we will be treated as owning the 5% interest in the assets and net profits of DMS that Joseph V. Topper, Jr. actually and constructively owns. If we were considered to directly or indirectly own an interest of 10% or more of the assets or net profits of DMS, then the real property rents that we receive from DMS would no longer constitute qualifying income in which case, based on our current operations, we would likely no longer qualify to be treated as a “partnership” (and instead would be treated as a corporation) for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Our and DMS’ governing documents contain transfer restrictions designed to prevent us from being treated as directly or indirectly owning by reason of the application of constructive ownership rules an interest of 10% or more of DMS’ assets or net profits. We received an opinion of counsel at the closing of the IPO that transfer restrictions are generally enforceable under Delaware law, but a court could determine that these restrictions are inapplicable or unenforceable.

The tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships or an investment in our common units could be subject to potential legislative, judicial or administrative changes and differing interpretations, possibly on a retroactive basis.

The present U.S. federal income tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships, including us, or of an investment in our common units may be modified by administrative, legislative or judicial changes or differing interpretations at any time. For example, from time to time, members of Congress propose and consider such substantive changes to the existing federal income tax laws that affect publicly traded partnerships. If successful, these proposals or other similar proposals could eliminate the qualifying income exception upon which we rely for our treatment as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Any modification to the U.S. federal income tax laws may be applied retroactively and could make it more difficult or impossible for us to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. We are unable to predict whether any of these changes or other proposals will ultimately be enacted. Any such changes could negatively impact the value of an investment in our common units.

If the IRS contests the U.S. federal income tax positions we take, the market for our common units may be adversely impacted and the costs of any contest will reduce our cash available for distribution to our unitholders. We have not requested any ruling from the IRS with respect to our treatment as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes or any other U.S. federal income tax matter affecting us. The IRS may adopt positions that differ from the positions we take. It may be necessary to resort to administrative or court proceedings to sustain some or all of the positions we take. A court may not agree with some or all of the positions we take. Any contest with the IRS may materially and adversely impact the market for our common units and the price at which they trade. In addition, the costs of any contest with the IRS, which will be borne indirectly by our unitholders and our General Partner, will result in a reduction in cash available for distribution.

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Our unitholders are required to pay taxes on their share of income from us even if they do not receive any cash distributions from us.

Our unitholders are required to pay U.S. federal income taxes and, in some cases, state and local taxes, on their allocable share of our taxable income and gain even if they do not receive any cash distributions from us. Our unitholders may not receive cash distributions from us equal to their share of our taxable income or even equal to the actual tax due with respect to that income.

Tax gain or loss on the disposition of our common units could be more or less than expected.

If a unitholder sells common units, the unitholder will recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and that unitholder’s tax basis in those common units. Distributions per common unit in excess of a unitholder’s allocable share of our net taxable income result in a decrease in that unitholder’s tax basis in its common units. The amount of this decreased tax basis, with respect to the units sold will, in effect, become taxable income to that unitholder, if that unitholder sells such units at a price greater than that unitholder’s tax basis in those units, even if the sales price received is less than the original cost. Furthermore, a substantial portion of the amount realized, whether or not representing gain, may be taxed as ordinary income due to potential recapture of depreciation and amortization deductions and certain other items. In addition, because the amount realized includes a unitholder’s share of our non-recourse liabilities, if a unitholder sells units, that unitholder may incur a tax liability in excess of the amount of cash received from the sale.

Tax-exempt organizations and non-U.S. persons face unique tax issues from owning common units that may result in adverse tax consequences to them.

Investment in our common units by an organization that is exempt from U.S. federal income tax, such as employee benefit plans, individual retirement accounts and non-U.S. persons raises issues unique to them. For example, a substantial amount of our U.S. federal taxable income and gain constitute gross income from an unrelated trade or business and the amount thereof allocable to a tax-exempt organization would be taxable to such organization as unrelated business taxable income. Distributions to a non-U.S. person that holds our common units will be reduced by U.S. federal withholding taxes imposed at the highest applicable U.S. federal income tax rate and such non-U.S. person will be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns and pay U.S. federal income tax, to the extent not previously withheld, on his, her or its allocable share of our taxable income and gain. Any tax-exempt organization or a non-U.S. person should consult its tax advisor before investing in our common units.

Our unitholders are subject to state and local income taxes and return filing requirements in states and localities where they do not live as a result of investing in our common units.

In addition to U.S. federal income taxes, our unitholders will likely be subject to other taxes, such as state and local income taxes, unincorporated business taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that are imposed by the various jurisdictions in which we do business or own property, even if they do not live in any of those jurisdictions. Our unitholders will likely be required to file state and local income tax returns and pay state and local income taxes in some or all of these various jurisdictions. Further, our unitholders may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. We currently conduct business in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin Each unit holder must assess the need to file and pay income tax in these states on their allocated share of partnership taxable income. We may own property or conduct business in other states, localities or foreign countries in the future. It is the responsibility of each unitholder to file all U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax returns. Our counsel has not rendered an opinion on the state, local or non-U.S. tax consequences of an investment in our common units.

We will treat each purchaser of our common units as having the same tax benefits without regard to the actual common units purchased. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of the common units.

Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of common units, we will adopt depreciation and amortization positions that may not conform to all aspects of existing Treasury Regulations. A successful IRS challenge to those positions could adversely affect the amount of U.S. federal income tax benefits available to our unitholders. It also could affect the timing of these tax benefits or the amount of gain for U.S. federal income tax purposes from any sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of our common units or result in audit adjustments to a unitholder’s U.S. federal income tax returns.

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We prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction for U.S. federal income tax purposes and allocate them between transferors and transferees of our common units each month based upon the ownership of our common units on the first business day of each month and as of the opening of the applicable exchange on which our common units are listed, instead of on the basis of the date a particular common unit is transferred. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could change the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction among our unitholders.

We generally prorate our items of income, gain, loss and deduction between transferors and transferees of our common units each month based upon the ownership of our common units on the first day of each month, instead of on the basis of the date a particular common unit is transferred. Although simplifying conventions are contemplated by the Code and most publicly traded partnerships use similar simplifying conventions, the use of this method may not be permitted under existing Treasury Regulations as there is no direct or indirect controlling authority on this issue. The Department of the Treasury and the IRS have issued Treasury Regulations that provide a safe harbor pursuant to which a publicly traded partnership may use a similar monthly simplifying convention to allocate tax items among transferor and transferee unitholders. The Treasury Regulations do not specifically authorize the use of the proration method we have adopted. If the IRS were to successfully challenge our proration method, we may be required to change the allocation of items of income, gain, loss and deduction among our unitholders.

If a unitholder loans their common units to a short seller to cover a short sale of common units, they may be considered to have disposed of those common units for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If so, the unitholder would no longer be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a partner with respect to those common units during the period of the loan and they may recognize gain or loss from such deemed disposition.

During the period of the loan of common units to the short seller, any of our income, gain, loss or deduction with respect to such common units may not be reportable by the respective unitholder, and any cash distributions received by the unitholder as to those common units could be fully taxable to them as ordinary income. Our counsel has not rendered an opinion regarding the treatment of a unitholder where common units are loaned to a short seller to cover a short sale of common units. Unitholders desiring to assure their status as partners and avoid the risk of gain recognition from a loan of their common units are urged to modify any applicable brokerage account agreements to prohibit their brokers from borrowing their common units.

We have adopted certain valuation methodologies that may result in a shift of income, gain, loss and deduction between our General Partner and the unitholders. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of the common units.

When we issue additional units or engage in certain other transactions, our General Partner will determine the fair market value of our assets and allocate any unrealized gain or loss attributable to our assets to the capital accounts of our unitholders and our General Partner. Although we may from time to time consult with professional appraisers regarding valuation matters, including the valuation of our assets, our General Partner will make many of the fair market value determinations of our assets using a methodology based on the market value of our common units as a means to measure the fair market value of our assets. Our methodology may be viewed as understating or overstating the value of our assets. In that case, there may be a shift of income, gain, loss and deduction between certain unitholders and our General Partner, which may be unfavorable to such unitholders. The IRS may challenge our valuation methods and allocations of income, gain, loss and deduction between our General Partner and certain of our unitholders.

A successful IRS challenge to these methods or allocations could adversely affect the amount of taxable income, gain or loss being allocated to our unitholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes. It also could affect the amount of taxable gain from our unitholders’ sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of the common units or result in audit adjustments to our unitholders’ U.S. federal income tax returns without the benefit of additional deductions.

If the IRS were to contest the U.S. federal income tax positions we take, it may adversely impact the market for our common units, and the costs of any such contest would reduce distributable cash flow to our unitholders.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 requires large partnerships to pay federal tax deficiencies at the partnership level, unless the partnership elects to take into account any federal tax deficiency by including the adjustment in the Form K-1s of the partners for the audited year. If we are audited, we will determine at that time whether to pay the tax deficiency, if any, at the partnership level or to include the adjustment in the Form K-1s of the partners for the audited year.

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PROPERTIES

The following table shows the aggregate number of sites we owned or leased by customer groups at December 31, 2017:

We conduct business at sites located in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The following table provides a history of our sites acquired, changes between customer groups or sold during 2017:

Our principal executive offices are in Allentown, Pennsylvania in approximately 27,000 square feet of leased office space.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are from time to time party to various lawsuits, claims and other legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. These actions typically seek, among other things, compensation for alleged personal injury, breach of contract, property damages, environmental damages, employment-related claims and damages, punitive damages, civil penalties or other losses, or injunctive or declaratory relief. With respect to all such lawsuits, claims and proceedings, we record a reserve when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. In addition, we disclose matters for which management believes a material loss is at least reasonably possible. None of these proceedings, separately or in the aggregate, are expected to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows. In all instances, management has assessed the matter based on current information and made a judgment concerning its potential outcome, giving due consideration to the nature of the claim, the amount and nature of damages sought and the probability of success. Management’s judgment may prove materially inaccurate, and such judgment is made subject to the known uncertainties of litigation.

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We were a co-defendant, together with our General Partner, CST and CST Services LLC, in a lawsuit brought by a former executive of CST Services who, until March 2015, provided services to us as Chief Investment Officer and Vice President of Finance (Court of Common Pleas,  Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, case number 2015-1003). In connection with CST’s acquisition of our General Partner in 2014, the plaintiff alleged breach of contract and associated claims relating to his termination of employment and claimed severance benefits under the EICP. In October 2017, a jury awarded the plaintiff a total of $1.7 million. Under the EICP, we were also obligated to pay reasonable legal expenses incurred by the plaintiff in connection with this dispute.

Additional information regarding legal proceedings is included in Note 15 to the financial statements.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

As of February 21, 2018, we had 34,111,461 common units outstanding, held by approximately 20 holders of record. Our common units are listed and trade on the NYSE under the symbol “CAPL.” Included in the number of common units outstanding are 6,389,346 common units currently owned by Circle K, which cannot be transferred absent registration with the SEC or an available exemption from the SEC’s registration requirements. See “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Unitholder Matters.”

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales prices for our common units, as reported by the NYSE, and cash distributions paid per common unit. The last reported sales price of our common units on the NYSE on February 21, 2018 was $23.36 per share.

Cash Distribution Policy

General

The Board has adopted a policy to make cash distributions per unit each quarter, in an amount determined by the Board following the end of such quarter. In general, we expect that cash distributed for each quarter will equal cash generated from operations less cash needed for maintenance capital expenditures, accrued but unpaid expenses (including the management fee to Circle K), reimbursement of expenses incurred by our General Partner, debt service and other contractual obligations and reserves for future operating and capital needs or for future distributions to our partners. We expect that the Board will reserve excess cash, from time to time, in an effort to sustain or permit gradual or consistent increases in quarterly distributions. Restrictions in our credit facility could limit our ability to pay distributions upon the occurrence of certain events. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Credit Facility.” The Board may also determine to borrow to fund distributions in quarters when we generate less cash available for distribution than necessary to sustain or grow our cash distributions per unit. The factors that we believe will be the primary drivers of our cash generated from operations are changes in demand for motor fuels, the number of sites to which we distribute motor fuels, the margin per gallon we are able to generate at such sites and the profitability of sites we own and lease.

Our cash distribution policy, established by our General Partner, is to distribute each quarter an amount at least equal to the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.4375 per unit on all units ($1.75 per unit on an annualized basis). The distribution declared by the Board on January 24, 2018 was $0.6275 per unit (or $2.51 per unit on an annualized basis). Our General Partner may determine at any time that it is in the best interest of our Partnership to modify or revoke our cash distribution policy. Modification of our cash distribution policy may result in distributions of amounts less than, or greater than, our minimum quarterly distribution, and revocation of our cash distribution policy could result in no distributions at all. In addition, our credit facility includes certain restrictions on our ability to make cash distributions.

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IDRs

IDRs represent the right to receive an increasing percentage (15.0%, 25.0% and 50.0%) of our quarterly distributions from operating surplus after the minimum quarterly distribution and the target distribution levels (as described under Minimum Quarterly Distribution below) have been achieved. Circle K holds our IDRs and has the right to transfer these rights at any time. The distributions declared since March 2014 exceed the 15% threshold and the distributions declared since June 2015 exceed the 25% threshold.

Minimum Quarterly Distribution

If cash distributions to our unitholders exceed $0.5031 per unit in any quarter, our unitholders and the holders of our IDRs, will receive distributions according to the following percentage allocations:

Quarterly distribution activity during the last two years was as follows:

We expect to continue the practice of paying quarterly cash distributions, though the timing, declaration, amount and payment of future distributions to unitholders will fall within the discretion of the Board. Our indebtedness also restricts our ability to pay distributions. As such, there can be no assurance we will continue to pay distributions in the future.

Subordination Period

On February 25, 2016, the subordination period under the Partnership Agreement ended. At that time, each outstanding subordinated unit converted into one common unit and as such participates pro rata with the other common units in cash distributions.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

Through December 31, 2017, we issued an aggregate of 6,389,346 common units to CST or Circle K as consideration for asset purchases and partial settlement of the management fee. These units are restricted and cannot be transferred absent registration with the SEC or an available exemption from the SEC’s registration requirements. These issuances were made in reliance on Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. See “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Unitholder Matters.”

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Common Unit Repurchase Program

On November 2, 2015, our Board approved a common unit repurchase program under Rule 10b-18 of the Exchange Act authorizing us to repurchase up to an aggregate of $25 million of the common units representing limited partner interests in the Partnership. Under the program, we may make purchases in the open market after November 9, 2015 in accordance with Rule 10b-18 of the Exchange Act, or in privately negotiated transactions, pursuant to a trading plan under Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act or otherwise. Any purchases will be funded from available cash on hand. The common unit repurchase program does not require us to acquire any specific number of common units and may be suspended or terminated by us at any time without prior notice. The purchases will not be made from any officer, director or control person of CrossAmerica or Couche-Tard. Since inception, we repurchased $6.9 million, or 287,621 common units, at an average price of $23.84 per common unit. We made no repurchases during 2017. 

Common Unit Purchases by CST

On September 21, 2015, CST approved a unit purchase program under Rule 10b-18 of the Exchange Act, authorizing CST to purchase up to an aggregate of $50 million of the common units representing limited partner interests in us. The unit purchase program does not have a fixed expiration date and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time at CST’s discretion. Through December 31, 2015, CST had purchased $19.8 million, or 804,667 common units, at an average price of $24.64 per common unit, which cannot be transferred absent registration with the SEC or an available exemption from the SEC’s registration requirements. CST and Circle K made no purchases of common units during 2016 or 2017.

Management Fee Issuance

As approved by the independent conflicts committee of the Board, the Partnership and Circle K mutually agreed to settle, from time to time, a portion of the full amount due under the terms of the Amended Omnibus Agreement in newly issued common units representing limited partner interests in the Partnership. These issuances of common units were made in reliance on Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. We issued the following common units to CST or Circle K for the periods presented below under the terms of the Amended Omnibus Agreement:

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following selected financial data reflect the operating data for the periods and as of the dates indicated.

To ensure a full understanding, you should read the selected financial data presented below in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the financial statements and accompanying notes included in this Form 10-K.

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The financial data below are presented in thousands.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following MD&A is intended to help the reader understand our results of operations and financial condition. This section is provided as a supplement to, and should be read in conjunction with Items 1., 1A. and 8. (which includes our consolidated financial statements) contained in this report.

MD&A is organized as follows:

Couche-Tard and CST Merger

On June 28, 2017, a wholly owned subsidiary of Circle K merged with and into CST, with CST surviving the Merger as an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Circle K. Circle K is a wholly owned subsidiary of Couche-Tard.

As a result of the Merger, Circle K indirectly owns all of the membership interests in the sole member of our General Partner, as well as a 21.1% limited partner interest in the Partnership and all of the outstanding IDRs of the Partnership. Circle K, through its indirect ownership interest in the sole member of our General Partner, has the ability to appoint all of the members of the Board and to control and manage the operations and activities of the Partnership. 

Significant Factors Affecting our Profitability

The Significance of Crude Oil and Wholesale Motor Fuel Prices on Our Revenues, Cost of Sales and Gross Profit

Wholesale segment

The prices paid to our motor fuel suppliers for wholesale motor fuel (which affects our cost of sales) are highly correlated to the price of crude oil. The crude oil commodity markets are highly volatile, and the market prices of crude oil, and, correspondingly, the market prices of wholesale motor fuel, experience significant and rapid fluctuations. We receive a fixed mark-up per gallon on approximately 85% of gallons sold to our customers. The remaining gallons are primarily DTW priced contracts with our customers. These contracts provide for variable, market based pricing that results in motor fuel gross profit effects similar to retail motor fuel gross profits (as crude oil prices decline, motor fuel gross profit generally increases, as discussed in our Retail segment below). The increase in DTW gross profit results from the acquisition cost of wholesale motor fuel declining at a faster rate as compared to the rate retail motor fuel prices decline. Conversely, our DTW motor fuel gross profit declines when the cost of wholesale motor fuel increases at a faster rate as compared to the rate retail motor fuel prices increase.

CrossAmerica purchases motor fuel for our Jet-Pep Assets from Circle K at Circle K’s cost plus terminal and administration fees of $0.015 per gallon. Circle K’s cost to supply these sites includes price fluctuations associated with index-based motor fuel pricing for pipeline delivery and the generation and sale of RINs. Circle K has implemented a motor fuel price hedging program to mitigate the price risk during delivery; however, we are exposed to more price risk with these motor fuel purchases from Circle K as compared to our other motor fuel purchases.

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Regarding our supplier relationships, a majority of our total gallons purchased are subject to Terms Discounts. The dollar value of these discounts increases and decreases corresponding to motor fuel prices. Therefore, in periods of lower wholesale motor fuel prices, our gross profit is negatively affected and, in periods of higher wholesale motor fuel prices, our gross profit is positively affected (as it relates to these discounts).

Retail segment

We attempt to pass along wholesale motor fuel price changes to our retail customers through “at the pump” retail price changes; however, market conditions do not always allow us to do so immediately. The timing of any related increase or decrease in “at the pump” retail prices is affected by competitive conditions in each geographic market in which we operate. As such, the prices we charge our customers for motor fuel and the gross profit we receive on our motor fuel sales can increase or decrease significantly over short periods of time.

Changes in our average motor fuel selling price per gallon and gross margin are directly related to the changes in crude oil and wholesale motor fuel prices. Variations in our reported revenues and cost of sales are, therefore, primarily related to the price of crude oil and wholesale motor fuel prices and generally not as a result of changes in motor fuel sales volumes, unless otherwise indicated and discussed below.

We typically experience lower retail motor fuel gross profits in periods when the wholesale cost of motor fuel increases, and higher retail motor fuel gross profits in periods when the wholesale cost of motor fuel declines.

Seasonality Effects on Volumes

Our business is subject to seasonality due to our wholesale and retail sites being located in certain geographic areas that are affected by seasonal weather and temperature trends and associated changes in retail customer activity during different seasons. Historically, sales volumes have been highest in the second and third quarters (during the summer months) and lowest during the winter months in the first and fourth quarters.

Impact of Inflation

Inflation affects our financial performance by increasing certain of our operating expenses and cost of goods sold. Operating expenses include labor costs, leases, and general and administrative expenses. While our Wholesale segment benefits from higher Terms Discounts as a result of higher fuel costs, inflation could negatively impact our Retail segment as a result of higher motor fuel, merchandise and operating costs. Although we have historically been able to pass on increased costs through price increases, there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so in the future.

Acquisition and Financing Activity

Our results of operations and financial condition are also impacted by our acquisition and financing activities as summarized below.

2015

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2016

2017

Separation Benefits and Retention Bonuses

During 2017, the Partnership recognized a $5.4 million charge for certain severance and benefit costs associated with certain officers and other employees of CST Services who provided services to the Partnership and who terminated employment upon the consummation of the Merger, which constituted a change in control, as defined in the EICP and CST’s severance plans. Such costs are included in general and administrative expenses and were primarily paid by Circle K in the third quarter of 2017. Accounts payable to related parties includes these costs as we will reimburse Circle K.

In addition, certain participants in the EICP received retention bonuses that will be paid in annual installments that began in July 2017 and will continue through July 2019. The Partnership recorded a $1.0 million charge during 2017 in connection with the payments made by Circle K in July 2017, which were included in general and administrative expenses. In addition, the Partnership recognized a $0.7 million charge in 2017 for the payments expected to be made in July 2018 and July 2019. The Partnership anticipates recognizing future charges totaling $0.9 million over the remaining retention period, of which $0.8 million is anticipated to be recognized in 2018.

We were a co-defendant, together with our General Partner, CST and CST Services LLC, in a lawsuit brought by a former executive of CST Services who, until March 2015, provided services to us as Chief Investment Officer and Vice President of Finance (Court of Common Pleas,  Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, case number 2015-1003). In connection with CST’s acquisition of our General Partner in 2014, the plaintiff alleged breach of contract and associated claims relating to his termination of employment and claimed severance benefits under the EICP. In October 2017, a jury awarded the plaintiff a total of $1.7 million. Under the EICP, we were also obligated to pay reasonable legal expenses incurred by the plaintiff in connection with this dispute.

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Acquisition of Jet-Pep Assets

On November 28, 2017, we closed on the acquisition of the real property and the fuel supply business of 101 commission operated retail sites, including 92 fee simple sites, the leasehold interest in five real property sites and the fuel supply business to four independent commission sites, all located in Alabama, from Jet-Pep, Inc. and affiliated entities, for an aggregate cash consideration of $75.6 million, including working capital. On the same day, Circle K closed on the acquisition of certain related retail and terminal assets from Jet-Pep, Inc. and affiliated entities.

Results of Operations

Consolidated Income Statement Analysis

Below is an analysis of our consolidated statements of income and provides the primary reasons for significant increases and decreases in the various income statement line items from period to period. Our consolidated statements of income are as follows (in thousands):