Canada's Couche-Tard makes preliminary bid for Japanese retail giant Seven & i

By Anton Bridge

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese retailer Seven & i holdings, operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, said on Monday it has received a preliminary takeover offer from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.

Shares in Seven & i surged by 22.7% or their daily trading limit of 400 yen, giving it a market value of 5.6 trillion yen ($38 billion). Couche-Tard is valued at roughly $58 billion.

Seven & i said it has formed a special committee to review the proposal but no decision has been made by either the committee or board of directors.

Alimentation Couche-Tard did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of usual working hours.

The talks are "at a very early stage," a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

If the deal goes through, this would be the largest ever buyout of a Japanese firm by an overseas company, according to the Nikkei business daily which first reported on the offer.

In 2020, Seven & i and Couche Tard were rival bidders to take over U.S. gas station chain Speedway, which the Japanese company ended up purchasing for $21 billion.



Seven & i has been under pressure from activist investors to sell off underperforming assets and double down on its global convenience store business centred around its flagship 7-Eleven brand.

($1 = 146.2200 yen)

Source: Investing.com