Business 7-Eleven owner eyes potential record-breaking buyout by Canadian giant

According to the statement, Seven & i has learned from Junro Ito, the company's vice president and son of the late founder Masatoshi Ito, as well as the family's asset management company, Ito-Kogyo, that Junro Ito and Ito-Kogyo are unable to secure the financing required to submit a definitive proposal to acquire Seven & i. The announcement comes a day after Nikkei reported that Japanese trading house Itochu would not participate in the proposed buyout. Itochu had been approached by Seven & i's founding family to take part in the buyout but officially announced on Thursday that it was pulling out of discussions. "We have been earnestly considering the request from the founding family for participation as a strategic partner," the trading house said in a statement. However, "we have decided to terminate our consideration of this matter."

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Last year, the Canadian operator of the Circle K convenience store chain had offered to buy Seven & i for $47 billion in what could have been the biggest foreign acquisition of a Japanese company. Nikkei first broke that news on Aug. 19, 2024. On Thursday, the Canadian company revealed it had been offering alternatives to an outright acquisition, including Couche-Tard acquiring 7-Eleven International, the international operations of the Japanese company, in exchange for equity ownership in Couche-Tard. The other idea was Couche-Tard acquiring 100% of Seven & i's business outside of Japan and 40% of the Japan business. [...] Seven & i is scheduled to announce a new growth strategy next month.

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