(Nov 20): Shares of Seven & i Holdings Co gained as much as 11% after Japanese broadcaster NHK reported the founding family of the retail giant is looking to complete a deal to take the company private by the end of its fiscal year in February.

A special-purpose company established by the founding family and other parties is working on a plan to conduct a takeover bid for the entire firm, and is looking to raise more than ¥8 trillion (US$51.7 billion or RM230.9 billion) from megabanks and US financial institutions, according to the report, citing people familiar with the matter.

The operator of 7-Eleven stores, in response to the report, said nothing has been decided on closing any deal with the founding Ito family. The company’s shares notched their first gains in three days, closing up by 6.52% after rising as much as 11%. 

While the price is still unknown, investors are taking the news positively as the NHK report made a managed buyout seem a real possibility, said Naoki Fujiwara, a senior fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management Co. “Shares are probably rising on expectations that the founding family is serious about this.”

Seven & i is considering a management buyout to take itself private with funding from banks, Itochu Corp. and the Ito family in a transaction that could be worth around ¥9 trillion, people with knowledge of the matter said last week. Any deal could be presented as an option for shareholders in the event that Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc becomes more aggressive with its pursuit of Seven & i and makes a tender offer, the people said.

The timing of an Ito family bid is “much shortened” compared with Alimentation Couche-Tard’s bid, and the family has no other consolidated business that may threaten anti-consumer behavior, analyst Travis Lundy wrote in a note on Smartkarma.

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja