In a move intended to allow it to focus more on its convenience-store business and to fend off a takeover by Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., parent of the Circle K c-store brand, Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd.—parent of Seven-Eleven Japan, 7-Eleven International and 7-Eleven Inc. in the United States—will establish an intermediate holding company for its noncore supermarket food business, specialty store and other businesses (SST Business Group).
Couche-Tard in August submitted a “friendly,” nonbinding proposal to Seven & i to acquire all outstanding shares of the company. Seven & i confirmed at the time that it had received the confidential, nonbinding and preliminary acquisition proposal, and its board formed a special committee of independent outside directors to review it. Seven & i has rejected the initial proposal twice, saying it “undervalues” the company.
Earlier this week, Couche-Tard raised its offer to acquire Seven & i from $14.86 per share or approximately $39 billion, to $18.19 per share or approximately $47.2 billion.
In April, Tokyo-based Seven & i announced that it would consider an initial public offering (IPO) of the SST business “targeting to list as soon as reasonably practicable as one workable option of achieving sustainable growth of SST business, in order to unlock value for the company’s shareholders and other stakeholders.”
“As part of this initiative, the company has decided to establish the intermediate company with a major role of planning the corporate strategies, managing and supporting the SST Business Group whose growth story differs from the convenience-store business’s,” Seven & i President Ryuichi Isaka said in a statement.
Seven & i expects the intermediate company to comprise a total of 31 companies, including 24 consolidated subsidiaries and seven equity method affiliates under the SST Business Group. The seven companies are general merchandise, shopping center, grocery store and department store chain Ito-Yokado Co. Ltd.; supermarket chain York-Benimaru Co. Ltd., household goods chain The Loft Co. Ltd.; maternity, babies and children chain Akachan Honpo Co. Ltd.; quick-service restaurant (QSR) and contract foodservice company Seven & i Food Systems Co. Ltd.; real estate developer and redeveloper Seven & i Create Link Co. Ltd.; and specialty grocery retailer Shell Garden Co. Ltd.
The new entity, to be called York Holdings Co. Ltd., will be incorporated on Oct. 11.
Seven & i also plans an organizational restructuring, slated to be effective in late February 2025. It said it is considering changing the name of the holding company to 7-Eleven Corp. to more clearly illustrate its “full focus” on convenience stores. Seven & i also said it would look at “reallocation of capital to growth investments” in the convenience business and would “close 444 underperforming stores” in the United States as part of “store portfolio optimization.”
7-Eleven is No. 1 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2.
Tokyo-based Seven & i is a global operator of convenience stores, superstores, supermarkets, specialty stores, foodservices, financial services and IT services. 7–Eleven International LLC franchises or licenses more than 44,000 stores in 19 countries and regions, The brand also operates corporate or franchise stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Globally, the 7-Eleven trademark is represented in approximately 83,000 stores.
Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven Inc. operates, franchises or licenses more than 83,000 convenience stores in 19 countries and regions, including more than 13,000 7-Eleven convenience stores in the United States.
Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard operates in 31 countries and territories, with more than 16,700 stores. Its network includes more than 7,100 stores in the United States under the Circle K and Holiday Stationstores banners, and approximately 2,100 in Canada under the Circle K and Couche-Tard banners.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.