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All eyes are on Alimentation Couche-Tard after Shell Canada announced plans Tuesday to seek a partner to acquire about 260 of its gasoline stations and retail sites in Quebec and the Maritimes.

The network would include convenience food stores, car washes and other customer-driven offerings.

The Calgary-based company said it was looking for an "appropriate steward" to help grow the Shell-branded retail business in the eastern provinces.

The number of Shell-branded retail sites in Quebec and the Maritimes is not changing at this time, Shell spokesman Stephan Dolan said in an email.

"The intention is for the sites to remain Shell-branded," Dolan said.

Shell says the offering will exclude five joint venture sites and 190 reseller outlets in the region.

"This is an exciting business opportunity," said David Saint-Laurent, Shell Canada's general manager for retail operations. "With the high quality of entrepreneurs in Quebec and the Maritime provinces, we are confident of finding a worthy steward or stewards of the Shell brand with whom we will grow."

Quebec-based Couche-Tard (TSX:ATD.B) didn't return calls seeking comment. But Canada's largest convenience store chain has been acquiring stores as it drives to become North America's largest chain.

Industry observers say Couche-Tard is Shell's logical choice.

"They are the big player, anyone else other than them would be a surprise," said Robert James David, associate professor of strategy at McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management.

He said a strategic partnership would give each side what it wants. Shell would gain help operating convenience stores, while Couche-Tard would continue to beef up as it moves to double its size within five years.

Many of these partnerships are quietly completed before being announced. Shell may have gone public this time either to generate a bidding war or because a deal hit a roadblock, David added.

"All of this is signalling. When they go with a press release that is a bit ambiguous, it's like dating."

Other potential names that have surfaced are Loblaw's (TSX:L), Canadian Tire (TSX:CTC.A) and Ultramar. None responded to requests for comment. Shell's desire to maintain its branding could kill any deal.

Yan Cimon, associate professor of strategy at the University of Laval, said Shell is making the change to concentrate on its brand and its upstream activities in petroleum and gas extraction.

He said Couche-Tard is a good fit because the two companies are already partners in the United States. But the location of the stations will be a key factor in the type of buyer.

Cimon added that Shell will probably have to be flexible with Couche-Tard or other potential buyers or may find itself in same situation as last year when it couldn't find a buyer for its Montreal refinery.

The Canadian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE :RDS) closed the refinery and converted the site to a fuel distribution centre. The move eliminated 500 jobs.

Shell Canada has been operating in Canada for a century and employs 8,000 people at its oil and gas production and refining and marketing and petrochemical operations.

The company produces natural gas, natural gas liquids and bitumen, and is Canada's largest producer of sulphur and a major operator in the northern Alberta oilsands.

It operates about 1,600 gas stations and still has refineries at Sarnia in southwestern Ontario and Scotford, near Edmonton.

Read full article: , May 17, 2011

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