Japan:  , Japan will look at the “economic protection” aspects of any foreign acquisition of 7-Eleven, a government minister said as Canada’s Couche-Tard pursues a invasion of the nation’s largest advantage network.
Alimentation Couche-Tard, which owns the Circle K company, wants to buy the business owner’s family Seven &, i but the Chinese firm last year rejected an original offer worth almost US$ 40 billion from Couche-Tard.
The American business did so in part because the revised charge was reportedly 20 % higher.
“Economic safety is a new place… but, for example, I think the merger of 7-Eleven is primarily related”, Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s minister for economic revitalisation, said on Wednesday.
Akazawa emphasized the potential role that Japan’s convenience stores you perform in times of crisis, especially after significant earthquakes and other tragedies, especially in remote areas.
” If, for instance, 7-Eleven becomes entirely owned with international capital, to seek profitability as its first priority, did it really provide total cooperation when a disaster occurs”? he asked writers.
His remarks came after Joe Biden, the president of the United States, on Friday blocked Nippon Steel’s$ 14 billion acquisition of US Steel, citing national security issues.
The Chinese government and businesses, which invested about US$ 800 billion into the US in 2023, were harshly criticized for the decision.
In September, the Chinese banking department designated Seven &, document as a” key” industry in terms of national security.
Different companies rated the same in Japan include those that manufacture products in the radioactive, rare earths, and chip business as well as those who operate infrastructure and security.
Seven &, document, yet, said at the moment that the score “has nothing to do with the acquisition offer” from Couche-Tard.
Seven &, i said in November that it was studying a counter-offer from the company’s founding family reportedly worth ¥8 , trillion ( US$ 50 billion ).
Executives for Couche-Tard were reportedly told by Chinese media that they would not renew the offer or make a hostile offer.
The 7-Eleven company began in the US, but it has been utterly owned by Seven &, i since 2005 and has 85, 000 stores worldwide.