(March 11): Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc will keep up “friendly and persistent” attempts to forge a deal to acquire Seven & i Holdings Co, saying that it has financing in place and sees a clear path to gaining antitrust regulatory approval in the US. 

“We remain focused on entering into these more fulsome discussions, and continue to be disappointed that engagement has been very limited, and focused only on the path to US regulatory approval,” Couche-Tard said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Couche-Tard, which owns the Circle K brand, disclosed that it submitted a new, yen-denominated non-binding proposal in January, following its approach last year to purchase Seven & i for US$18.19 (RM80.62) per share, or about US$47.5 billion. The company didn’t give a figure for the new price. 

Ever since Couche-Tard’s approach became public in August, the operator of 7-Eleven stores has sought to make a case for remaining independent. Seven & i announced last week sweeping changes, such as board director Stephen Dacus taking over as the chief executive officer, the sale of its superstore business for US$5.4 billion, a share buy-back programme worth ¥2 trillion, and a listing of its US business.

This week, Seven & i said it had presented several steps to address any regulatory hurdles, namely the divestment of stores, to be agreed upon before any potential deal. Those include finding a buyer for all of Couche-Tard’s Circle K stores in the US. Given that Seven & i and Couche-Tard’s convenience stores are the top two chains in the US, their combined number of more than 20,000 outlets would be 7.6 times bigger than their next competitor, Casey’s General Stores Inc. 

“We firmly believe that the divested business will be a strong and extremely viable competitor in the US, and will attract interest from credible buyers,” Couche-Tard said. 

Couche-Tard executives, including founder and chairman Alain Bouchard, will be in Tokyo this week to try and advance discussions with Seven & i. They plan to hold a news conference on Thursday to publicly present their case for buying the company.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Royal Bank of Canada, and Scotiabank have provided letters in support of the financing for a deal, according to Couche-Tard. 

“We have no concerns with our ability to fully finance the transaction,” the company said in the statement. “We plan to fund the transaction with a combination of debt and equity, sized with intention to retain strong investment grade credit ratings as we have done with numerous acquisitions in the past.”

Couche-Tard said it had no plans to close stores or cut jobs in Japan, adding that it “can learn a considerable amount from the offering of 7-Eleven Japan and its supply chain”.

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