Couche-Tard chairman says no hostile takeover bid for Seven & i, Nikkei reports

TOKYO (Reuters) -Alimentation Couche-Tard is not considering a hostile takeover bid for Japan’s Seven & i, the Nikkei business daily quoted the Canadian suitor’s chairman and co-founder, Alain Bouchard, as saying.

In an interview with Japanese media conducted in Canada on Thursday, Bouchard said a hostile bid “was not among factors being considered,” indicating the company’s intention to secure an amicable acquisition deal, the Nikkei reported.

Couche-Tard, which competes with Seven & i in the North American petrol station market, in August made an initial bid to take over the Japanese retail giant. It later raised its offer to $47 billion, in what would be the largest-ever foreign takeover of a Japanese company.

Seven & i, which operates more than 80,000 7-Eleven convenience stores around the world, is caught in a three-way tug-of-war between Couche-Tard, Seven & i’s founding family, which is proposing a management buyout, and company management who have said their growth plan can enhance value.

Asked whether Couche-Tard could raise its bidding price, CEO Alex Miller, who also attended the interview, said: “The current proposed price is attractive for all stakeholders.”

The two companies have large shares in the United States convenience store market so a merger would likely face regulatory scrutiny and divestiture of stores in some regions to satisfy anti-monopoly rules.

In a Yomiuri newspaper report of the joint interview, Bouchard said his company had extended takeover proposals to Seven & i three times in all – in 2005, 2020 and 2024. He said it would take six months to deal with regulatory authorities after an acquisition and Couche-Tard had a plan on how to do so, Yomiuri reported.

Seven & i shares slid 1% in early Tokyo trading on Friday compared to a 0.8% advance in the benchmark Nikkei gauge.