7-Eleven says Couche-Tard takeover still under consideration

The Japanese parent company of 7-Eleven said Tuesday that a buyout bid from a Canadian convenience store rival was still on the table despite a report that it planned to reject the multibillion-dollar offer.

Seven & i, which operates some 85,000 convenience stores worldwide, last year rebuffed an offer worth nearly $40 billion from Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) that would have been the biggest foreign buyout of a Japanese firm.

The Yomiuri daily reported Tuesday that a special committee scrutinising ACT's sweetened offer of reportedly around $47 billion has decided to say no to that too.

Antitrust concerns were one reason for the decision, the daily said, given Seven & i and ACT's overlapping store networks in the United States.

But Seven & i did not confirm the report when contacted by AFP.

"The company remains committed to exploring all opportunities to unlock value for shareholders and continues to assess a full range of strategic alternatives, including the proposal from ACT," it said in a statement.

Seven & i said its "special committee is engaging constructively with ACT to determine if an actionable proposal can be achieved that addresses the serious US antitrust challenges that any such transaction would face".

Seven & i shares, which have been highly volatile since ACT's approach was first announced, shed as much as 10 percent after the Tokyo market opened Tuesday following the report.

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Its shares were down 7.8 percent in afternoon trade.

The Yomiuri reported the decision to reject the acquisition offer would be made soon at a board meeting.

Board members would also replace CEO Ryuichi Isaka with outside director Stephen Hayes Dacus, it said, echoing reports in other outlets.

Dacus has previously worked for Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing and US retail giant Walmart, and would be Seven & i's first foreign chief.

Seven & i, which last week said its founding family had failed to put together sufficient financing for a buyout to fend off ACT's offer, on Monday said "no decision has been made" regarding management changes.

Now the world's biggest convenience store brand, 7-Eleven began in the United States, but it has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005.

ACT, which began with one store in Quebec in 1980, runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide including the Circle K chain.

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