Canada’s Couchetar to launch preliminary bid for Japanese retail giant Seven & I Reuters

Anton Bridge

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese retailer Seven & i Holdings, which operates the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, said on Monday it had received a preliminary takeover offer from Canada’s Alimentation Couchetar.

Seven & i’s shares soared 22.7% to the daily limit of 400 yen, giving it a market value of 5.6 trillion yen ($38 billion). Couche-Tard is worth about $58 billion.

Seven & I said it had formed a special committee to review the proposal, but no decision has yet been made by the committee or its board.

Kushtar Elementation did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.

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

If the deal goes through, it would be the largest takeover of a Japanese company by a foreign company in history, according to the economic daily that first reported the proposal.

In 2020, Seven & I and Couchetar were competing bidders to acquire the U.S. gas station chain Speedway, which the Japanese company ultimately acquired for $21 billion.

Seven & I has been under pressure from activist investors to sell off underperforming assets and focus more on its global convenience store business, centered around its flagship 7-Eleven brand.

($1 = 146.2200 yen)