Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is again appealing to Casey’s shareholders ahead of this week’s annual shareholders meeting set for Sept. 23.
It urged shareholders to consider the following when voting:
“7-Eleven has not made a formal offer to acquire Casey’s. Unlike Couche-Tard’s $38.50 per share fully-financed cash premium offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Casey’s, 7-Eleven has merely suggested a non-binding indication of interest at $40.00 per share. There is no certainty that 7-Eleven will follow through on its suggestion of a potential transaction between Casey’s and 7-Eleven. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that your Board will fulfill its fiduciary obligations to you and maximize the value of your investment in Casey’s by pursuing the sale of Casey’s to the highest bidder. As a shareholder of Casey’s, do you really believe that the Casey’s Board will follow through on this process and maximize the value of your investment if its directors are re-elected at the upcoming Annual Meeting?”
The letter went on to say Couche-Tard is willing to further increase its offer to buy Casey’s.
“As we have said, if Couche-Tard is granted access into a fair process and has the opportunity to conduct a confirmatory due diligence review of Casey’s on the same playing field as 7-Eleven, we would be willing to consider further increasing our offer. Currently, the difference in price between our firm, public offer and 7-Eleven’s non binding preliminary indication of interest is merely 4%. Yet, the Casey’s Board has authorized discussions to explore a transaction with 7-Eleven whereas they continue to reject our request to be included in the process.”
Couche-Tard further noted that its offer is fully financed, as it has secured up to $1.5 billion in financing, which together with currently available funds, would be more than sufficient to fund the all cash transaction.
Casey’s General Stores has said it plans to proceed with its shareholder meeting on Thursday-despite Couche-Tard’s previous letter suggesting such a move. Casey’s doesn’t expect to conclude takeover negotiations with 7-Eleven before the meeting.