Saga is in acquisition mode and looking to grow. CEO Ed Christian says a couple of brokers have nicknamed him Goldilocks. The reason, Christian says, is his game plan to purchase a single station here, or a single station there. It’s never been Christian’s plan to write big checks to buy bundles of stations.
Christian said yesterday, while he’s not sure whether being called Goldilocks is a good thing or a bad thing, he understands why the brokers call him that. “We don’t buy barrels of different types of porridge at the same time. We acquire one bowl at a time and a bowl that is just right and it’s worked for us for 32 years. There’s no reason for us to change the metric. We do not buy batches and batches of stations at one time.” Christian said doing so would overwhelm the Saga infrastructure and that could cause severe ramifications for both shareholders and for the company.
Saga is in excellent financial shape with a credit line of $100 million and cash reserves available. And Christian has his eye on four properties, although he wouldn’t reveal where they are. “It will take time, none of them are tomorrow, but they could be tomorrow.”
