Couche-Tard pulls $47 billion takeover bid for Seven & i
(Reuters) -Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard said on Wednesday it was withdrawing its $47 billion takeover bid for Seven & i Holdings, citing a lack of “constructive” engagement with the Japanese company’s founding Ito family.
The move ends a year-long attempt by Couche-Tard to create a global convenience store giant with about 20,000 locations by merging Circle K and 7-Eleven brands. It had also agreed to a store sale plan, in a bid to ease some regulatory hurdles.
“We have repeatedly sought a friendly dialogue with the Ito family but they have not been open to any conversation,” Couche-Tard said in a letter to its board of directors.
Couche-Tard had raised its offer to $47 billion from $38.5 billion in October last year and in March offered to increase it further if the Japanese firm cooperated and revealed more financial information.
Its attempts at cementing the acquisition had gathered steam after a rival $58 billion white-knight bid from Seven & i Holdings’ founding family ended after failing to get financing.
The companies had inked a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) earlier this year, but “the quantity and substance of the permitted due diligence, including at two tightly constrained management meetings, have been negligible,” Couche-Tard said in the letter.
“At this point, we had no visibility into whether or when we might receive any further information,” Couche-Tard’s letter said.
(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
