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If nothing knocks Flying J off course, the fuel stop chain owner and oil refiner will have exited from bankruptcy by July 31.
The company is also close to completing the merger of its network of 270 travel centers and fuel stops with those of former arch-rival Pilot Travel Centers, Flying J CEO Crystal Call Maggelet said Friday.
"We are in a pretty good place. We are in the last stages of [Federal Trade Commission] approval for the Pilot merger," Maggelet said.
"And we have filed a plan of reorganization with the [federal bankruptcy] court, with the confirmation hearing scheduled for early July and exit by the end of July."
Ogden-based Flying J — said by Forbes magazine to be a top 20 private company in the U.S., with $18 billion in revenues in 2008 — will still be a smaller, albeit debt-free, company after seeking protection from its creditors in December 2008.
Its Bakersfield, Calif., refinery, which supplies 6 percent of California's diesel and 2 percent of its gasoline, was sold Monday to Paramount Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Alon USA Energy, for $40 million, plus the value of the plant's inventory.
Also gone is Flying J Insurance Services, which sells policies to drivers and trucking companies. The subsidiary was sold in November to The Buckner Co., a Salt Lake City-based insurance brokerage firm.
In July, Flying J sold its struggling Longhorn Partners Pipeline subsidiary to Magellan Midstream Partners for $250 million plus the value of petroleum products in the subsidiary's 700-mile conduit running between the Houston area and El Paso, Texas.
That same month, Flying J reached what it called a "preliminary" agreement to sell its fuel-stop businesses to Pilot, which runs 300 travel centers in the U.S. And as part of the deal, Pilot promised to provide Flying J $100 million in "debtor-in-possession" financing to help it through the bankruptcy.
Other financial details have never been made public.
The Flying J refinery in North Salt Lake was put up for sale. But on Friday, Maggelet said the company has decided to keep it.
It will also retain Transportation Alliance Bank, which provides financial services to truck drivers and companies, Transportation Clearing House, a credit card operation and an equity stake in the merged Pilot-Flying J travel center business.
Maggelet declined to say how much of the travel center business Flying J will continue to own.
"That's still being worked out," she said.
In a related matter, Flying J has agreed to settle a lawsuit it filed against Comdata Corp., which processes electronic payments. The settlement means that Flying J's TCH-branded fleet cards will be accepted on Comdata's point-of-sale devices.
"This is another step that I think will help Flying J even more," Maggelet said.
Flying J filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 18 months ago. The company cited falling oil prices and a sudden freeze in credit markets.
The bankruptcy led to the resignation of longtime CEO J. Phillip Adams, who led Flying J for almost two decades.
In an interview last year, Maggelet assigned much of the responsibility for the bankruptcy to Adams, who Maggelet characterized as an empire builder more interested in big revenues than in profits.
A look at Flying J
Headquarters • Ogden
Founded • 1930
Business • Privately held travel center operator, refiner, producer and distributor of fuel products
Revenue • $18 million in 2008
Employees • 14,700, including 2,200 in Utah
Source: Flying J Corp