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Japan's Seven & i sells retail business
to Bain Capital for $5.4 billion, plans IPO
[March 06, 2025]
By ELAINE KURTENBACH
Japan’s
Seven & i, the parent company of the Japanese 7-Eleven convenience store
chain, said Thursday it is selling its supermarket store assets to Bain
Capital for about $5.4 billion.
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A Vancouver Police officer talks on his phone outside of a crime scene
at a 7-Eleven after a stabbing in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, File) |
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The
company announced the deal a day after naming Stephen Dacus, its
board chairman, to be its president and CEO.
It also said it plans an initial public offering in the U.S. of
7-Eleven or SEI, its convenience store business in North
America, by the end of 2026. Funds from the IPO and the sale to
Bain will be returned to shareholders in the form of share
buybacks worth 2 trillion yen ($5.4 billion).
Seven & i's share price jumped 6.1% in Tokyo.
The deal follows Seven & i's rejection of a takeover bid by
Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard. Dacus said earlier that the
offer had undervalued the potential of the convenience store
business and failed to fully address U.S. regulatory concerns.
The 7-Eleven franchise includes 86,000 stores in the U.S., Japan
and other Asian nations.
Last year, Seven & i announced a restructuring plan to
strengthen its U.S. operations and streamline operations,
closing some Ito-Yokado supermarkets in Japan.
The omnipresent 7-Eleven convenience stores remain popular in
Japan, having replaced many mom and pop shops. Convenience
stores are a mainstay in many neighborhoods.
Seven & i earlier sold its Sogo & Seibu department stores in
Japan to Fortress Investment Group, a U.S. fund, for $1.5
billion. It said it also plans to reduce its share in Seven Bank
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