7-Eleven, Couche-Tard advance acquisition talks with divestment exploration

The parent company of 7-Eleven appears to be warming to a possible sale to Quebec-based convenience store owner Alimentation Couche-Tard.

In a letter to shareholders, a special committee convened by Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. confirmed Couche-Tard’s last week news that both sides are working together to map out potential buyers for convenience stores that could be sold to satisfy U.S. antitrust regulators.

The divestment exploration was one of three options the committee put forward to advance talks. Another option asked the Canadian firm to sell all its U.S. Circle K locations and a third suggested Seven & i would agree to a merger only if Couche-Tard signs a divestiture deal with a potential buyer.

Seven & i says any sale to Couche-Tard would face “significant” antitrust hurdles because the companies have at least 2,000 overlapping stores that would likely have to be divested to a viable, credible and independent buyer to satisfy regulators’ competition concerns.

Seven & i says Couche-Tard wanted the two sides to sign an acquisition agreement and then spin out overlapping stores or try to find a divestiture buyer, but the 7-Eleven owner felt that approach would have come with too high a chance of the deal not closing and leave it in limbo for years.

Couche-Tard declined to comment on the Seven & i letter but last week said it had identified a potential divestiture portfolio of U.S. stores and with Seven & i, was discussing possible acquirers for the locations.

Seven & i originally rebuffed Couche-Tard’s takeover pitch last year, saying the offer was too low and did not fully address U.S. regulatory concerns, but it’s become more attractive because the Japan-headquartered firm’s founding family rescinded its bid over difficulties securing financing.