TOKYO: Japan will have a look at the “financial safety” points of any overseas acquisition of 7-Eleven, a authorities minister mentioned as Canada’s Couche-Tard pursues a takeover of the world’s largest comfort chain.
Alimentation Couche-Tard, which owns the Circle Ok model, needs to purchase the shop proprietor’s guardian Seven & i however the Japanese agency final yr rejected an preliminary provide value practically US$40 billion from Couche-Tard.
That led the Canadian firm to make a revised bid reportedly 20 per cent greater.
“Financial safety is a brand new space … however, for instance, I feel the acquisition of 7-Eleven is majorly associated,” Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s minister for financial revitalisation, mentioned on Wednesday.
Akazawa highlighted the function Japan’s comfort shops can play in occasions of disaster, akin to after main earthquakes and different disasters, notably in distant areas.
“If, for instance, 7-Eleven turns into utterly owned with overseas capital, to pursue profitability as its first precedence, would it not actually provide full cooperation when a catastrophe happens?” he requested reporters.
His feedback got here after United States President Joe Biden on Friday blocked Nippon Steel’s US$14.9 billion takeover of US Steel, citing nationwide safety considerations.
The transfer drew harsh criticism from the Japanese authorities and companies, which in 2023 invested virtually US$800 billion into the US.
In September, the Japanese finance ministry designated Seven & i as a “core” business by way of nationwide safety.
Different entities rated the identical in Japan embrace producers within the nuclear, uncommon earths and chip industries, in addition to cybersecurity and infrastructure operators.
Seven & i, nonetheless, mentioned on the time that the ranking “has nothing to do with the takeover provide” from Couche-Tard.
Seven & i mentioned in November that it was finding out a counter-offer from the corporate’s founding household reportedly value ¥8 trillion (US$50 billion).
Japanese media quoted Couche-Tard executives as saying they might not sweeten the bid once more, or launch a hostile provide.
The 7-Eleven franchise started within the US, but it surely has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005 and has 85,000 shops worldwide.
