7-Eleven owner shares plunge as reports say family buyout fails

People shop at a 7-Eleven convenience store in midtown Manhattan in New York on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Ted Shaffrey

Tokyo, Japan — Shares in the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven plunged as much as 12 percent on Thursday after reports said a bid by the convenience store giant’s founding family to go private had failed.

The management buyout by Seven & i Holdings had been seen as a move to avoid a takeover by Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard, which operates the Circle K chain.

With around 85,000 outlets, 7-Eleven is the world’s biggest convenience store brand, and the Couche-Tard takeover would be the biggest ever foreign buyout of a Japanese firm.

Seven & i last year rejected an offer worth nearly $40 billion from Couche-Tard, prompting the Canadian company reportedly to sweeten its bid by 20 percent.

The Japanese company then said in November that it was studying a counter-offer from the company’s founding Ito family reportedly worth around eight trillion yen (US$54 billion).

The family were reportedly negotiating financing from top Japanese banks as well as companies such as Itochu Corp, which owns the FamilyMart chain.

But Bloomberg News and other outlets reported Thursday that Seven & i had said the family could not secure the funding needed for the proposed management buyout, sending its share price down.

Japanese media reported late Wednesday that Itochu had abandoned its plan to invest around one trillion yen ($6.7 billion) in Seven & i as part of the move.

Seven & i did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 7-Eleven franchise began in the United States, but it has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005.

Couche-Tard, which began with one store in Canada’s city of Laval in 1980, now runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide.

In September, when Seven & i rejected the initial takeover offer from Couche-Tard, the company said it had “grossly” undervalued its business and could face regulatory hurdles.

Its 7-Eleven stores are a beloved institution in Japan, selling everything from concert tickets to pet food and fresh rice balls, although sales have been flagging.

Japan’s minister for economic revitalisation said in January that the country would study the “economic security” aspects of any foreign acquisition of 7-Eleven.

Ryosei Akazawa highlighted the role Japan’s convenience stores can play in times of crisis, such as after major earthquakes and other disasters, particularly in remote regions.

In 2021, Couche-Tard dropped a takeover bid worth 16 billion euros ($17 billion today) for French supermarket Carrefour after the French government said it would veto the deal over food security concerns.