7-Eleven Initiates Talks for $47 Billion Takeover Bid with ACT - FT

Seven & i Holdings, the owner of 7-Eleven stores, has initiated negotiations with Canadian Alimentation Couche-Tard for a $47 billion takeover offer. The Canadian company’s interest in acquiring the world’s largest supermarket operator dates back more than twenty years. Its official approach to Seven & i was made public in August, and if successful, it would mark Japan's largest takeover deal to date.

According to three people familiar with the matter, "preliminary and limited" discussions have begun among the advisers of the two companies. However, even as these talks are in their early stages, Seven & i announced on Wednesday that it had received a competing offer for a potential takeover from members of the company's founding Ito family. In a notification to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the offer was described as "confidential and non-binding."