TOKYO, 4th March 2025 (BSS/AFP) – Shares of Seven & I, the parent company of 7-Eleven, plummeted on Tuesday following reports that the Japanese retailer intends to reject a multibillion-dollar takeover bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT).
Seven & I, which operates around 85,000 convenience stores globally, had previously turned down ACT’s initial offer of nearly $40 billion last year, which would have been the largest foreign acquisition of a Japanese firm.
According to the Yomiuri daily, a special committee reviewing ACT’s raised bid, now reportedly around $47 billion, has decided to formally reject the offer. This move is believed to be partly driven by antitrust concerns, as both Seven & I and ACT have overlapping store networks in the United States.
Following the news, Seven & I shares experienced significant volatility, dropping as much as 10 percent when the Tokyo stock market opened on Tuesday.
The report also coincided with separate news that Seven & I is poised to replace its CEO Ryuichi Isaka with Stephen Hayes Dacus, an outside director. Dacus, who has previously worked with Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing and Walmart Japan, would become the first foreign CEO in Seven & I’s history. However, the company stated on Monday that “no decision has been made” regarding management changes.
Last week, Seven & I revealed that the founding family had failed to secure sufficient funding for a buyout to block ACT’s offer.
Originally founded in the United States, 7-Eleven has been wholly owned by Seven & I since 2005 and remains the world’s largest convenience store chain. ACT, which began with a single store in Quebec in 1980, now operates nearly 17,000 outlets worldwide, including the Circle K chain.
Supplementary Information:
The ongoing back-and-forth between Seven & I and ACT highlights the increasing global competition in the convenience store market. The potential acquisition of such a major player in the industry is seen as a strategic move by ACT, which has been expanding aggressively. The rejection of the offer and changes in leadership within Seven & I may influence future corporate decisions, as the company navigates the pressures of competing in a rapidly evolving retail environment.