TOKYO -- Seven & I Holdings Co., the owner of 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan and the United States, said Monday it will pay the equivalent of $1.13 billion (U.S.) to buy department store operator Millennium Retailing Inc. in a deal creating Japan's biggest retailer.
Tokyo-based Seven & I will complete the transaction in two steps, first buying a 65% stake in Millennium currently held by Nomura Principal Finance for more than 131 billion yen in cash by the end of March, Seven & I said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.[image-nocss]
It will then buy the remaining 35% directly from Millennium in a stock swap by June. Millennium is an unlisted company.
Aside from 7-Eleven, Seven & I also owns the Ito-Yokado supermarket chain. Millennium owns Japanese retailers Sogo Co. and Seibu Department Stores Ltd.
Their combined revenue would come to around 4.5 trillion yen, or $38.8 billion (U.S.), for the year ended February 28, making Seven & I the biggest in Japan's retail industry followed by Aeon Co.
The merger could help Seven & I by broadening its range of revenue and increasing its offerings of luxury goods, at a time when consumer spending is on the increase with a recovery in Japan's economy, the world's second-largest.
Seven-Eleven Japan became a shareholder in Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. in 1991 andas reported in CSP Daily Newsfinished buying all the shares in November.
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