7-Eleven owner says to spin off non-core businesses

7-Eleven is the world’s largest convenience store chain, with over 85,000 locations globally, about a quarter of which are in Japan.

THE Japanese owner of 7-Eleven announced plans on Thursday to spin off non-core operations into a new holding company, a move seen as fending off a takeover bid by Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard.

Seven & i Holdings “resolved at the management meeting held today to establish an intermediate holding company… that will preside over the Company’s supermarket food business, specialty store and other businesses”, a statement said.

It said it would consider an initial public offering (IPO) of the new unit “in order to unlock value for the Company’s shareholders and other stakeholders”.

7-Eleven is the world’s biggest convenience store chain and has more than 85,000 outlets worldwide, around a quarter of those in Japan.

Seven & i rejected a takeover offer worth $40 billion last month from Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT), which owns Circle K. The firm had said that the proposal, which would be the biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese firm, “grossly” undervalued its business and could face regulatory hurdles.

Seven & i said on Wednesday it had received a revised offer but declined to give details.

Bloomberg News and other media outlets reported that the new offer totalled around seven trillion yen ($47 billion). — AFP