(Tokyo) Japanese retail giant Seven & i Holdings is reportedly trying to appeal to the Japanese government to defend itself against a takeover bid from Canadian food giant Alimentation Couche-Tard, several media outlets reported Wednesday.
The Japanese group, whose shares jumped on the announcement on August 19 of this offer for an unspecified amount, then explained that it had set up a group composed of independent directors within its management committee to study it.
But according to information from the Bloomberg agency, Seven & i is seeking to obtain from the Japanese Ministry of Finance a protected status granted in particular to companies present in sensitive sectors such as nuclear power or semiconductors.
Anyone wishing to acquire more than 10% of the shares of a company under this status must obtain prior approval from the Japanese government.
The merger, if successful, would potentially be the largest acquisition of a Japanese company by a foreign group in several years.
It would create a distribution giant, with the 85,000 stores owned in 19 countries by Seven & i, operator of the 7-eleven convenience stores, and the 16,700 stores in 31 countries owned by Couche-Tard, including the Circle K brand.
Seven & i fell 1.4% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday following this news, with a market capitalization of around 5,400 billion yen (33.5 billion euros).
“Seven & i seemed to be doing everything right, relying on a special committee” in line with recent guidelines from Tokyo to seriously consider such offers in the name of better corporate governance, one shareholder was quoted as saying, speaking anonymously by the Financial Times.
“But if behind the scenes they are already talking about defensive tactics, it suggests that whatever the special committee decides, [ils] are not approaching the issue with the best interests of shareholders in mind,” the source added.