Excellence Refined - 30 Years - Valero

JULY 28, 1978: Reporters question Bill
Greehey moments after the Texas Railroad
Commission agreed to a settlement for LoVaca
customers affected by the Texas gas crisis.
the very company he helped create, serving as Valero’s
longtime General Counsel.
As a result of the $1.6 billion settlement, Coastal’s
assets, worth $700 million – including an intrastate,
5,200-mile gas-gathering pipeline – were spun off into
the new company, Valero Energy Corporation. LoVaca
customers received 13 percent of Valero’s common stock
and $115 million in preferred stock. At the time, it was
the largest corporate spin-off in U.S. history. Former
Valero President Palmer Moe believes the settlement that
created Valero had benefits even beyond the obvious
for customers. “One benefit that was given little value
at the time was the requirement that Valero be located
in either San Antonio or Corpus Christi,” Moe said in
2005. “I think it was the most valuable benefit of all,
as Valero has become a leading corporate citizen, and
its employees have made tremendous volunteer and
financial contributions to the community.”
Valero did, indeed, move its headquarters from Houston
to San Antonio – even before the ink had dried on the
settlement itself. Not only was San Antonio the company’s
single-largest gas customer, it was the last holdout among
customers considering the state-supported settlement.
San Antonio’s 200-mile distance from Houston also
gave Valero much-needed separation from its embattled
former corporate parent, Coastal. Valero would begin
life under new skies and new optimism.
On January 2, 1980, a ceremony initiated trading of
Valero Energy common stock on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol VLO. Before trading opened
to the public, Valero stock was selling for $5 a share. On
day one, Valero saw its first public share sell for $12.50
– more than doubling in value overnight. Valero had
officially arrived with $1.3 billion in revenue, $649 million
in assets, 1,318 employees, and one goal: Grow.
This new company
represented a fresh start.
——
Lila Cockrell, San Antonio Mayor at settlement time
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