The hunt to acquire 7-Eleven parent company Seven & i Holdings (7&i) kicked off in August 2024, with Canadian Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard lofting a friendly proposal to buy the company for $39 billion — a preliminary offer that was subsequently rejected and raised to $47 billion.
In November, 7&i received another proposal from a member of the founding family in an effort to take the company private. The offer was from Ito-Kogyo, a company with links to vice president Junro Ito and a top shareholder for 7-Eleven.
This turned out to be a fruitless bid, as we recently learned that Junro Ito failed to secure funding for the acquisition. The $58 billion proposal would have been the largest management buyout in history.
“Seven & i Holdings Co. confirmed that it has learned from Junro Ito, vice president and a representative director of 7&i, and Ito-Kogyo Co., that they have been unable to secure the financing required to submit a definitive proposal to acquire 7&i,” the company wrote in a statement. “As a result, there is no actionable proposal from Mr. Junro Ito and Ito-Kogyo for 7&i to consider at this time.”
Now, however, Reuters has revealed that 7&i is finalizing a plan for CEO Ryuichi Isaka to step down, with Stephen Dacus reportedly in line for the seat. Reuters also reported that 7&i shares plummeted by 12% today after a report was published claiming that 7&i planned to reject the $47 billion bid from Couche-Tard. The Japanese company has rejected this claim, stating that “there is no such fact.”
“The company remains committed to exploring all opportunities to unlock value for shareholders and continues to assess a full range of strategic alternatives, including the proposal from (Alimentation Couche-Tard),” the company wrote in a statement. “The special committee is engaging constructively with ACT to determine if an actionable proposal can be achieved that addresses the serious U.S. antitrust challenges that any such transaction would face.”
CStore Decisions will continue to closely monitor the developing situation.
