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Even as it moves forward with plans to close more than 400 underperforming 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America, global convenience-store company Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. on Wednesday said it also plans to open 500 new stores in the United States and Canada through 2027, according to a new report by Reuters.
A spokesperson for Tokyo-based Seven & i, the parent company of 7-Eleven Inc., confirmed for the news agency an earlier report by Kyodo News about the plan for North America, adding that it was part of Seven & I’s strategy to grow to 100,000 convenience stores in 30 countries and regions by 2030.
The strategy comes as the company is also fighting to fend off a more than $47 billion takeover bid by Circle K brand owner Laval, Quebec-based global c-store rival Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.
7-Eleven is No. 1 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2.
In a move intended to block Couche-Tard’s acquisition attempt, Seven & i is considering a management buyout to take itself private with funding from banks, Itochu Corp. and the founding Ito family in a transaction that could be worth approximately $58 billion, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
The nearly $60 billion proposed management buyout includes plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of its North American convenience store and gas station business to ease financing concerns, according to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Couche-Tard in August submitted an acquisition proposal to Seven & i. The Seven & i board formed a special committee of independent outside directors to review the offer. It has rejected the initial proposal twice, saying the bid “undervalues” the company. Couche-Tard then raised its offer, from $14.86 per share or approximately $39 billion, to $18.19 per share or approximately $47.2 billion.
Seven & i has since announced a restructuring plan to spin off its noncore supermarket, food, specialty store and other businesses and to divest 444 underperforming “non-core” c-stores in North America to allow it to focus more on its convenience-store business.
Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven Inc. operates, franchises or licenses more than 83,000 convenience stores in 19 countries and regions, including more than 13,000 7-Eleven convenience stores in the United States.
Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard operates in 31 countries and territories, with more than 16,700 stores. Its network includes more than 7,100 stores in the United States under the Circle K and Holiday Stationstores banners, and approximately 2,100 in Canada under the Circle K and Couche-Tard banners.
Tokyo-based Seven & i is a global operator of convenience stores, superstores, supermarkets, specialty stores, foodservices, financial services and IT services. 7–Eleven International LLC franchises or licenses more than 44,000 stores in 19 countries and regions, The brand also operates corporate or franchise stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Globally, the 7-Eleven trademark is represented in approximately 83,000 stores.
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Greg Lindenberg has been covering convenience-store news and writing about the c-store and gas station industries for more than a quarter of a century. He specializes in mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) news.
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