Circle K's parent ups bid for 7-Eleven chain to $47 billion

Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The parent of the Canadian-based convenience store chain Circle K has increased its buyout offer to purchase the iconic 7-Eleven stores from its Japanese owner this week.

Seven & i Holdings, the parent of 7-Eleven confirmed on Wednesday that Alimentation Couche-Tard increased its takeover offer to $47 billion.

The new offer was about 20% more than the $38.7 billion the Japanese company soundly rejected last month .

The Japanese firm said at the time that Circle K's parent initial bid "grossly" undervalued its 7-Eleven holdings while facing substantial regulation challenges. The Japanese foreign ministry recently added Seven & i as a business "core" to the country's national security. That means investors outside of Japan would also face a government review of such a deal.

Alimentation Couche-Tard said that while it was disappointed in Seven & i's initial reaction, it wanted to discuss it with them, however,the latest offer was made on Sept. 19 and and no further discussions between the two companies had taken place.

Seven & i shares had jumped as high as 9.5% in Tokyo, ending the day up 4.7% as the company said it would "continue to act in the best interest of its shareholders and other stakeholders.

Alimentation Couche-Tard, which also operates branded Couche-Tard stores, has 17,000 outlets in 30 countries. In the United States,7-Eleven competes head-to-head with Circle K. Seven & i runs 70,000 7-Elevenstores as the world's largest convenience store chain.

The chain was founded in Dallas in 1927 with Seven & i purchased a 70% holding in 1991, making it a subsidiary of the Japanese firm.

The U.S. firm Artisan Partners, which owns a 1% stake in the Japanese company, had been pushing for buyout offers and other inquiries, charging that Seven & i had overlooked its foreign allocations.