TOKYO (Reuters) -Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard said on Tuesday it is confident in attaining the U.S. regulatory approvals required to buy out Japan’s Seven & i Holdings after the latter said antitrust law would be a barrier to any deal.
It also said it was frustrated by Seven & i’s limited engagement, even as the two have begun working together on a plan to offload U.S. stores so as to gain regulatory approval.
The companies are the top two players in the U.S. convenience store market, with about 20,000 locations between them, and Seven & i’s CEO Stephen Dacus, who was appointed last week, has reiterated that significant regulatory hurdles stand in the way of a merger.
In a statement Couche-Tard said it had submitted a revised non-binding proposal in January as per Seven & i’s request and was confident in its financing plans, which include a combination of debt and equity and is sized to maintain its strong investment-grade credit rating.
“Our proposal presents shareholders with a clear economic value, unlike 7&i’s repeatedly revised plan as announced last week,” the statement said.
Seven & i did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Stephen Coates)
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