Tokyo (AFP) – The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven announced on Thursday a raft of new measures to fend off a takeover by a Canadian rival, including a huge share buyback and an IPO of its US unit. The announcements are the latest twist in a saga that began last year, when Seven & i rebuffed a takeover offer worth nearly $40 billion from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT).
“We’re convinced that now is the time to take our initiatives to the next level, and our leadership will further pursue the improvement of shareholder value and implement transformative policies,” outgoing company president Ryuichi Isaka said in a statement. “We have decided to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) of our SEI shares that operate the North American convenience store business, 7-Eleven, on one of the major US stock exchanges by the second half of 2026,” Seven & i said.
It said it plans to buy back two trillion yen ($13.2 billion) of its own shares, using funds generated by that IPO and other restructuring measures. The company also plans to sell its non-convenience-store business — comprising supermarkets, restaurants, and other assets — to US private investment firm Bain Capital for $5.4 billion. Seven & i, which operates some 85,000 convenience stores worldwide, also named Stephen Dacus as its first foreign chief executive to replace Isaka. Reports of the raft of measures, that appeared before the retailer’s announcement, caused its shares to surge as much as 10 percent in afternoon trade. They later trimmed those gains and were trading up 6.5 percent before the market closed.
– Behemoth –
ACT’s takeover would be the biggest foreign buyout of a Japanese firm, merging the 7-Eleven, Circle K, and other franchises to create a global convenience store behemoth. Japan’s Yomiuri daily reported this week that a special committee scrutinizing ACT’s raised offer of reportedly around $47 billion had decided formally to reject that too. Isaka told a news conference on Thursday that an ACT takeover would pose “serious US antitrust challenges,” and that there had been “no meaningful progress” towards resolving them.
“Hence the proposal has no assurance that it would be in the best interest of group shareholders and other stakeholders,” Isaka said through an interpreter. He added, however: “We will continue to examine and consider all strategic options, including the proposal from ACT, in order to realize the unlocking of our share value for our shareholders.”
– Rice balls –
7-Eleven, the world’s biggest convenience store brand, began in the United States but has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005. Its stores are a beloved institution in Japan, selling everything from concert tickets to pet food and fresh rice balls, although sales have been flagging. ACT, which began with one store in Quebec in 1980, runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide, including Circle K.
Dacus told the news conference that his father was a 7-Eleven franchisee in the United States and that he worked weekend night shifts as a teenager. “I had no way of knowing that nearly 50 years later, I would be selected to run the global parent company of my father’s small store,” Dacus said in Japanese. “As you all know, recently we have lost some momentum. We have to humbly face the fact that we have lost some market share,” he added through an interpreter.
© 2024 AFP
