In a one-page letter to Seven & I’s board of directors, Couche Tard CEO Alex Miller explains the Canadian convenience-store operator’s unsuccessful attempts to engage Tokyo-based Seven & I with a multibillion-dollar takeover bid, which he says was a 47 percent premium over the Japanese multinational’s privately held stock.
“We continue to believe that a combination of Seven & i Holdings and Alimentation would create a global leader in convenience with the ability to better serve our stakeholders, grow the 7-Eleven brand, and generate value for our respective shareholders,” Miller wrote.
Miller further stated that the Laval, Quebec-based convenience-store chain “has been very patient and respectful throughout this process,” dating back to the company’s initial takeover bid nearly a year ago on July 23, 2024.
After rejecting Couche-Tard’s unsolicited offers in late 2024, Seven & I announced on Feb. 27 that it was unable to secure financing for a $58 billion management buyout deal to stay independent. Shortly after, Couche-Tard and Seven & I entered into confidential merger talks that have lasted for several months.
During that period, Couche-Tard stated it has presented formal and informal bids at several high-level meetings in Canada and Japan to advance its effort to acquire Tokyo-based Seven & I’s U.S.-based operations, which include thousands of 7-Eleven, Speedway, Stripes, and other convenience-store brands across the United States.
However, Miller said that after signing a nondisclosure agreement in late April to move forward with merger talks with Seven & I, Couche-Tard has received very little feedback from the company’s management, board, or advisers to proceed to the next stage of buyer engagement.
In closing his letter detailing the company’s series of year-long engagements with Seven & I, Miller said Couche-Tard would no longer pursue a merger or acquisition without “deeper and genuine further engagement” from Seven &I’s leadership team and board of directors.
Meanwhile, Couche-Tard seems prepared to move forward as a standalone company and approach Seven & I’s position as the largest convenience-store operator in the United States. On June 26, the Circle K parent company announced it received regulatory approval to complete a smaller $1.6 billion deal to acquire Giant Eagle Inc.’s 270 GetGo convenience-store locations across the Midwest.
That deal, although significantly smaller than the proposed Seven & I bid, underwent a very thorough antitrust review by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under then-President Joe Biden. However, Couche-Tard received unanimous FTC approval during the Trump administration to proceed with its acquisition of GetGo Café + Market from Giant Eagle, a Pittsburgh-based supermarket chain with convenience-store locations across Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana.
Based in Tempe, Arizona, Couche-Tard’s Circle K subsidiary remains the second-largest convenience-store operator in the United States, with about 7,000 stores. Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven Inc., the largest convenience-store chain in the country, operates, franchises, or licenses more than 83,000 convenience stores in 19 countries and regions, including more than 13,000 7-Eleven stores in the United States.