TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese retail giant Seven & I Holdings said on Friday Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard had offered to buy the company for $14.86 per share in cash, but it rejected the proposal as not being in the interest of shareholders.
The Japanese retail giant said it was open to “sincerely consider” any proposals. But it would “resist any proposal that deprives our shareholder of the company’s intrinsic value that fails to specifically address very real regulatory concerns,” the company said in a letter addressed to Couche-Tard.
Seven & I Holdings had a market capitalisation of about $39 billion based on its closing price on Thursday and its shares were up about 0.5% in morning trade on Friday.News of Couche-Tard’s approach for the global operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, which would be the largest foreign takeover of a Japanese company, pushed Seven & I shares up almost 23% on Aug. 19.
Couche-Tard, which operates Circle-K convenience stores, is valued at about $52 billion.
