Circle K owner seeking takeover of 7-Eleven parent company
“friendly, Alimentation Non Circle And Stores Of Have The Proposal” Owned To Couche Submitted Tard Pany K Canadian Buyout A Eleven 7 Is By Binding Chain
Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard has approached the parent company of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain for a possible takeover in the latest in a series of ambitious plans by a company that was built on making one deal after another.
Couche-Tard confirmed Monday that it has made a “friendly, non-binding proposal” to Japan’s Seven & i Holdings which had a stock market value of about $38bn (€28.9bn) as of Monday’s close in Tokyo.
There’s no guarantee any agreement can be reached, the company cautioned — and there are significant barriers to completing such a massive deal.
One of those barriers could be US antitrust regulators, who are likely to challenge any deal over concerns it would lead to higher prices for consumers and weaken the job market, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing two people briefed on the matter.
But if the Canadian company can pull it off, it would be the fulfilment of a dream for founder and Executive Chairman Alain Bouchard, who has been eyeing 7-Eleven for decades.
Mr Bouchard made his first approach around 2005, looking for a deal with the Japanese company for its US business, according to a biography published several years ago. The idea was shot down quickly.
Mr Bouchard moved on, targeting a series of convenience store and gas station deals in the US and Europe before eventually turning his sights on Carrefour SA in 2021. Negotiations on a $20bn offer for the supermarket chain died in the morass of French politics, but last year the company landed a smaller deal in Europe, acquiring about 2,200 stores from TotalEnergies SE for €3.1bn.
Today the company has about 16,700 stores spread in 31 countries and territories — 75% of which were added through acquisitions.
The Circle K owner still sees more opportunities in the US. Less than an hour after confirming its proposal to Seven & i, the company announced the acquisition of 270 GetGo retail and fueling locations from Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle.
Couche-Tard is now the second-largest US operator with more than 7,100 locations, representing about 5% of convenience stores, and another 2,100 in Canada. The acquisition of 7-Eleven’s 13,000 locations in those two countries has the potential to raise competition concerns.
A spokesperson for Couche-Tard declined to comment beyond the company’s Monday morning statement.
- Bloomberg