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Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

The rebuff was quick and swift. Marathon Petroleum quickly dismissed calls by activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., to spinoff its three main businesses and initiate a strategic review, reported The Courier.

Marathon chairman and chief executive officer Gary Heminger commented, "On Oct. 27, we announced several sound, aggressive actions, including a schedule of substantial dropdown transactions to MPLX designed to support continued strong distribution growth of MPLX and drive value back to (Marathon Petroleum). As discussed with Elliott, there are tax and other impediments to an immediate dropdown of all the assets to MPLX."

On Monday, the New York-based Elliott Management, which is the largest shareholder of Marathon with a 4% stake, asked Marathon Petrolum to separate Marathon’s refining operation Speedway and its energy-and-logistics subsidiary MPLX via spinoffs to shareholders. At the same time, Elliott also recommended to Marathon Petroleum to allocate more assets to MPLX.

Marathon responded by saying it disagreed with the letter to its board and was moving ahead with its own plan, a reply that signaled rising tension between the refiner and t......................

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