The owner of convenience store giant 7-Eleven has received a takeover bid from Canadian rival Alimentacion Couche-Tard (ACT), which operates the Circle K chain.
Tokyo-based Seven & i Holdings said it has set up a special committee to decide whether to accept the takeover bid.
Following this news, Seven & i’s shares rose by more than 20%.
This gives the Japanese company a stock market valuation of about 5.6 trillion yen ($38.5 billion, £29.7 billion).
In a statement, Seven & i said it had “received a confidential, non-binding preliminary proposal from ACT.” [of its] “Number of shares issued”
“[The] “The Special Committee intends to conduct a prompt, careful and comprehensive review of the proposal,” he added.
If the deal goes through, it could be challenged by North American competition watchdogs, as 7-Eleven owns more than 13,000 stores in the United States and Canada and Couche-Tard owns more than 9,000.
In recent years, activist investors have pressured Seven & i to sell some of its assets to focus the company on its 7-Eleven brand and global convenience store business.
7-Eleven was first brought to Japan from the US in 1974 by retail tycoon Masatoshi Ito.
Ito, who died in 2023 at the age of 98, has been credited with growing the convenience store chain into a global business empire.
Currently, 7-Eleven operates 85,000 stores in 20 countries and regions around the world, with a strong presence in Asia.
Headquartered in Quebec, ACT is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and operates approximately 17,000 stores in more than 30 countries and territories across North America, Europe and Asia under the Circle K and Couche-Tard brands.
The company’s stock market valuation is about C$80 billion ($58.2 billion, £45 billion).
