Couche-Tard offers to buy Japanese owner of 7-Eleven

MONTREAL Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. could be on the verge of dominating the world’s convenience store market after it offered to buy one of the sector’s biggest players.

- TARA DESCHAMPS

Japan’s Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd., which owns 7-Eleven, said it received a non-binding offer from Laval, Que.-based Couche-Tard to acquire all outstanding shares.

Seven & i owns not just the popular 7-Eleven convenience store chain in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere, but also a number of other businesses including supermarkets, food producers, household goods retailers, financial services companies and even has a stake in Tower Records Japan.

Couche-Tard did not disclose terms of the proposal presented to Seven & i but described the offer as “friendly, non-binding” and said it is focused on “reaching a mutually agreeable transaction that benefits both companies’ customers, employees, franchisees and shareholders.”