Alimentation Couche-Tard has spent practically a yr courting Seven & i Holdings Co., the Japanese conglomerate with 1000’s of 7-Eleven places and a broader portfolio of supermarkets, meals producers and monetary companies corporations. Couche-Tard, which is predicated in Laval, Que., and owns Circle Ok 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 extraordinary 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 prepared to handle 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 by which 7&i famous it’s ‘severely’ 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 “persistently engaged in good religion and constructively” with Couche-Tard. “Whereas we’re dissatisfied by ACT’s resolution, 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 likelihood at creating a world retail big
Had the deal progressed, it will have handed Couche-Tard a dominant place within the international comfort retailer sport. Its community already covers 29 nations and greater than 17,000 shops. By comparability, Seven & i’s web site operates about 85,800 shops, has about 157,177 workers and counts 63.6 million buyer visits per day.
When a deal between the 2 was first bandied round final yr, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, mentioned 7-Eleven’s 14.5% market share made it the most important 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’ greatest 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 acquired a revised pitch from Couche-Tard. Media studies instructed the brand new provide valued Seven & i at US$47 billion, about 22% greater than the provide of $38.6 billion Couche-Tard made in August. The Japanese firm gave the impression to be poised to rebuff that provide as nicely, when a member of the Ito household put ahead a brand new administration buyout proposal.
