Canada’s Couche-Tard has finally given up its $46 billion pursuit of 7-Eleven’s parent co.
Japan has been 7-Eleven’s heartland for the past three decades — it might not be ready to let go just yet.
Circle K owner Couche-Tard has officially scrapped its $46 billion offer to acquire Seven & i Holdings — the Japanese parent of 7-Eleven — in what could have marked Japan’s largest-ever foreign buyout.
The failed bid follows a yearlong pursuit by the Canadian retailer, which holds less than 1% of Asia’s convenience store market, as it sought to build a global convenience store powerhouse. In its somewhat salty exit letter, Couche-Tard accused Seven & i of a “calculated campaign of obfuscation and delay.” Seven & i, for its part, said the Canadian company made “numerous mischaracterizations” and reaffirmed its commitment to a stand-alone strategy, including a leadership change and a planned IPO for its North American business.
Tokyo via Texas
While the 7-Eleven store we know today started life as a humble icehouse in Dallas in 1927, its ascent to become a global juggernaut truly began after Japanese retailer Ito-Yokado licensed the brand in 1974 and later acquired its struggling US parent in the 1990s. The business was consolidated under Seven & i Holdings in 2005, which now operates nearly 22,000 7-Eleven stores in Japan — over a quarter of the chain’s 85,800 global locations and ~1.4x more than Thailand, the next largest market. Its Japanese store count is also far greater than where the chain got its start.
That local dominance helps explain why executives were reportedly hesitant about foreign ownership of 7-Eleven — where customers swing by not just for snacks, but to pay bills, drop off packages, buy toiletries, and grab full meals. The stores are so deeply embedded in Japanese daily life that the government officially classified Seven & i as a company “core” to national security last year.
The collapsed deal also reflects corporate Japan’s still cautious stance toward foreign takeovers more broadly — despite growing investor pressure to boost shareholder value and the fact that overseas investors now own more of the market than the locals.
Shares of Seven & i tumbled over 10% following the withdrawal announcement, trading ~26% below Couche-Tard’s offer price.
