Canadian retail giant makes £29.7b bid for 7-Eleven

Ottawa, Aug 19 (BBC): A Canadian convenience store giant has made a surprise £29.7bn bid for its Japanese rival 7-Eleven in what could be the country's biggest-ever foreign takeover.

Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard's (ACT) made the approach for the chain - a staple across Asia and North America - on Monday.

ACT's footprint in the US and Canada would more than double to more than 20,000 sites if the deal goes ahead.

The news comes after the Japanese stock market was rocked by record swings earlier this month.

The offer, at about 5.6tn yen (£29.7bn), valued 7-Eleven at more than a fifth of its original price on the Japanese stock market.

Tokyo-based Seven & i Holdings, which owns 7-Eleven, said it has formed a special committee to decide whether or not to accept the offer.

It said it had "received a confidential, non-binding and preliminary proposal by ACT to acquire all [of its] outstanding shares".

"[The] Special Committee intends to conduct a prompt, careful and comprehensive review of the proposal," it added.

If a deal is agreed it could face challenges from competition watchdogs in North America as 7-Eleven runs more than 13,000 stores in the US and Canada, while Couche-Tard has over 9,000.