The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven rejected a takeover offer from Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. said the proposal by the Canadian convenience store operator “grossly undervalues” the company. In a letter to Couche-Tard, Seven & i called its offer of US$14.86 per share in cash “opportunistically timed”. Stephen Dacus, chair of the special committee formed to review the offer, wrote that they are open to discussions if a proposal fully recognizes their value. However, they do not believe the current proposal provides a basis for substantive discussions due to critical reasons. The Japanese company also mentioned that the bid did not acknowledge the significant challenges from U.S. competition regulators.
In addition to global convenience store chain 7-Eleven, Seven & i owns supermarkets, food producers, household goods retailers, and financial services companies. Couche-Tard expressed confidence in completing the deal, but analysts doubt it due to concerns with Japanese regulators. Couche-Tard has operations in 31 countries and over 16,800 stores, while acquiring Seven & i would add 85,800 stores to its empire.
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