[Update as of March 11, 2025] Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) has responded to statements by Seven & i Holdings (7&i) regarding the potential merger of the two convenience store giants, expressing ACT’s impatience with the negotiating process. “We have reiterated several times over the past few months that we intend to be friendly and persistent in pursuing a transaction, which we believe is in the best interest of all stakeholders,” according to an ACT statement. “We have done that in the face of significant frustration and distraction.”
ACT noted that it had provided a revised, yen-denominated, non-binding proposal at 7&i’s request on Jan. 24, 2025 to confirm its continued interest in the transaction, and also noted that should the deal take place, “we would plan to have fully committed financing for the entire purchase price in place,” noting that Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank have provided ACT with “highly confident letters in support of our financing.”
Additionally, while 7&i has expressed ongoing concerns about receiving regulatory approval for the merger, which the 7-Eleven parent company said would be contingent on a divestiture of as many as 2,000 convenience stores, ACT claims it already has a “detailed proposal” to deal with this challenge that it shared on Dec. 27, 2024. This plan includes “a robust commitment on a specific base number of stores we would we be willing to divest, and a large reverse termination fee, structured to ensure Couche-Tard would be highly motivated to take additional actions as may be necessary in order to complete the transaction.”
ACT concluded its statement by saying it looks forward to “fulsome engagement with 7&i so that we can reach definitive terms and move forward with a transaction that is in the best interest of all stakeholders.”
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Original story from March 10, 2025 begins –
One of the biggest planned retail industry mergers of recent years, Kroger’s now-defunct plan to purchase Albertsons, ran aground over antitrust issues, finally sputtering to a halt in December 2024. Antitrust issues also will present a significant hurdle for the potential combination of two of the world’s largest convenience store retailers, Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) and Japan’s Seven & i Holdings (7&i).
According to a 7&i statement, a “consistent threshold issue that we have raised from the outset” has been crafting a divestiture package involving an “unprecedented number of 2,000 or more overlapping stores that could be divested to a viable, credible and independent buyer in a manner that could be stood up to operate effectively on a go-forward basis.”
7&i had objected to ACT’s previous position — that it should first sign a deal to be acquired by the Canadian company and then either spin out overlapping stores or find a divestiture buyer — saying that this put an “unacceptable burden of risk on 7&i that the transaction would not be realized.”
Now, however, the Special Committee of the Seven & i board, formed when ACT first made an offer for the 7-Eleven parent company in August 2024, revealed that ACT has agreed to explore the option of mapping out the viability of a divestiture process before any definitive agreements have been signed. As a result, “joint outreach by financial advisors to ACT and 7&i to potential buyers has begun,” according to the 7&i statement.
While 7&i had rejected ACT’s initial $38.5 billion bid in September 2024, negotiations have continued since then. In October 2024 7&i announced plans to create a new holding company for its non-convenience store businesses, York Holdings Co., so that it could focus more intently on its c-stores, and in November 2024 7&i received an offer to take the company private from the son of one of its founders, but that deal was eventually pulled.
7-Eleven IPO Planned for 2026
The 7&i statement follows a series of leadership, capital and business initiatives announced earlier this month, including the appointment of Stephen Hayes Dacus, currently Chairman of the Board and Lead Independent Outside Director, to succeed Ryuichi Isaka as President, Representative Director and CEO, effective after the company’s annual meeting in May 2025.
Additionally, 7&i plans to pursue an IPO of SEI, its North American convenience store business known as 7-Eleven, by the second half of 2026 on “one of the major U.S. stock exchanges.” 7&i also will sell its Superstore Business Group, including its grocery retail and specialty businesses, to a Bain Capital-owned special purpose company for 814.7 billion Japanese yen ($5.37 billion) while rolling over 35% of equity holdings in a transaction expected to close in September 2025.
