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7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard

TOKYO (AFP) – The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven said yesterday it had received a “revised” takeover offer from Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard after rejecting an initial bid worth around USD40 billion.

7-Eleven is the world’s biggest convenience store chain and has more than 85,000 outlets worldwide, around a quarter of those in Japan.

Seven & i Holdings did not give a figure for the revised offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) but Bloomberg News and other media outlets reported that it totalled around JPY7 trillion (USD47 billion).

The takeover, if realised, would be the biggest foreign buyout of a Japanese firm.

“As requested by ACT, the Company has maintained, and intends to continue to maintain, the confidentiality of its current discussions with ACT,” Seven & i, Japan’s biggest retailer, said in a statement.

Seven & i announces its quarterly earnings today, with the CEO scheduled to address the media.

A woman walking past a 7-Eleven convenience store in Tokyo, Japan. PHOTO: AFP

The group’s shares closed up 4.7 per cent yesterday, having surged nearly 12 per cent in the morning following reports that ACT – which owns Circle K – had hiked its offer by almost 20 per cent.

The reports said the new offer was sent to Seven & i on September 19 but said no substantive negotiations had taken place since then.

Seven & i rejected ACT’s first offer last month, saying the USD40-billion proposal “grossly” undervalued its business and could face regulatory hurdles.

7-Eleven began in the United States (US) but the franchise has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005.

The stores are a beloved institution in Japan, selling everything from concert tickets to pet food and fresh rice balls.

Couche-Tard runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide.

By purchasing 7-Eleven, it is seeking to become “truly global”, said Professor and Canada Research Chair in Corporate Governance at UBC Sauder School of Business Kai Li.

“Couche-Tard has done well with Circle K acquisitions, expanding its footprint in the US,” she told AFP.

But “such a purchase might raise antitrust concerns” given that the combined entity would have “more market power” and could drive smaller operators out of business, Li said.

Japan’s TV Tokyo reported that Seven & i is even considering changing its name “to demonstrate in name and substance that the company will focus on its mainstay convenience business”.

Recent media reports have also said the company wants to strengthen its hand by selling off other assets such as its banking unit.

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