Alimentation Couche-Tard has spent practically a 12 months courting Seven & i Holdings Co., the Japanese conglomerate with hundreds of 7-Eleven areas and a broader portfolio of supermarkets, meals producers and monetary providers firms. Couche-Tard, which relies in Laval, Que., and owns Circle Okay and Ingo, ended its overtures Wednesday, accusing its takeover goal of a “persistent lack of excellent religion engagement.”
Couche-Tard claims talks had been one-sided and unproductive
Couche-Tard mentioned it repeatedly sought a pleasant dialogue with Seven & i’s founding Ito household however alleges it was not open to any dialog in regards to the proposal of ¥2,600 (C$24.04) per strange share in money. The Canadian firm additional charged that in conferences that had been “tightly scripted” and ran for half the allotted time, administration additionally wasn’t keen to deal with primary questions on business dynamics.
“There was no honest or constructive engagement from 7&i that may facilitate the development of any proposal, opposite to feedback made publicly by 7&i representatives, together with within the July 11, 2025 earnings name wherein 7&i famous it’s ‘significantly’ contemplating our proposal,” Couche-Tard executives mentioned in a letter despatched to Seven & i’s board and launched to media.
Seven & i argued again that it had “constantly engaged in good religion and constructively” with Couche-Tard. “Whereas we’re disenchanted by ACT’s determination, and disagree with their quite a few mischaracterizations, we aren’t shocked,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.
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A missed probability at creating a worldwide retail big
Had the deal progressed, it might have handed Couche-Tard a dominant place within the international comfort retailer sport. Its community already covers 29 international locations and greater than 17,000 shops. By comparability, Seven & i’s web site operates about 85,800 shops, has about 157,177 staff and counts 63.6 million buyer visits per day.
When a deal between the 2 was first bandied round final 12 months, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, mentioned 7-Eleven’s 14.5% market share made it the largest operator within the comfort retail retailer house, whereas Couche-Tard’s banners held about 4.6%. “Combining the 2 would produce an entity that controls virtually a fifth of the market,” he wrote in an electronic mail on the time.
The general public first discovered Couche-Tard had made a pleasant provide for Seven & i final August. The monetary phrases had been by no means revealed till a month later, when Seven & i mentioned its board of administrators unanimously concluded Couche-Tard’s preliminary provide was not in its shareholders’ finest pursuits as a result of it was “opportunistically timed and grossly undervalues” the enterprise.
Regulatory roadblocks and market volatility clouded takeover talks
That October, Seven & i obtained a revised pitch from Couche-Tard. Media experiences recommended the brand new provide valued Seven & i at US$47 billion, about 22% larger than the provide of $38.6 billion Couche-Tard made in August. The Japanese firm seemed to be poised to rebuff that supply as effectively, when a member of the Ito household put ahead a brand new administration buyout proposal.
