Why Sprague Resources Stock Rallied 20% at the Open Today

Shares of Sprague Resources (NYSE: SRLP) -- which describes itself as "a master limited partnership engaged in the purchase, storage, distribution and sale of refined petroleum products and natural gas" -- rose a quick 20% at the open of trading on June 3. Acquisition news released after the close on June 2 was the obvious reason, though the story actually dates back to January.

On Jan. 11, Sprague Resources announced that it had received an unsolicited acquisition offer from Hartree Partners, a private partnership. The proposed deal was an all-cash offer in which Hartree Partners would pay $16.50 per unit for the units of Sprague Resources that it didn't already own. Hartree Partners and its affiliates own 74.5% of Sprague Resources, so a deal looked fairly likely even at that time, but that was still just the start of the discussion.

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Source Fool.com