Photo/Illutration A Seven & i sign in front of a Seven-Eleven convenience store (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The founding family of the company that is now Seven & i Holdings Co. has abandoned a buyout plan to prevent a hostile takeover bid by a Canadian convenience store chain.

Seven & i announced on Feb. 27 that it had been notified by the founding family that it had been unable to come up with the funds needed to make a formal buyout offer.

Last year, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. of Canada proposed a buyout estimated at about 7 trillion yen ($46.7 billion).

A counterproposal was made by Junro Ito, Seven & i vice president and second son of the company founder, and the founding family’s asset management company.

Because an amount exceeding the Couche-Tard proposal was needed, financial institutions and other companies were asked to provide capital or loans.

But the proposal apparently had to be abandoned because the trading company Itochu Corp., which initially considered contributing about 1 trillion yen in capital, decided to withdraw from the plan.

Couche-Tard continues to be eager for the buyout and has argued that creating a huge conglomerate would lead to advantages in product procurement, delivery and development.

However, executives of Seven & i are leaning toward continuing with an independent management to heighten the company’s value on the grounds the Canadian proposal has not shown how the chain's outlets in Japan and consumers would benefit.

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