06:12 AM EDT, 03/13/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) will continue its friendly pursuit of Seven & i, executives said, even as they vented their frustrations over the slow progress in acquisition talks with the Japanese owner of the 7-Eleven convenience-store chain, The Wall Street Journal is reporting Thursday.

"We are continuing to pursue a friendly, mutually agreeable transaction" with Seven & i, Alain Bouchard, Couche-Tard's founder and executive chairman, said at a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday. "We believe our proposal provides clear value to all stakeholders and should be generally and adequately considered," he said, adding that the Canadian owner of Circle K has no intention to go hostile at this point.

The Couche-Tard executives expressed disappointment about the lack of engagement with Seven & i, while sounding confident that they can overcome antitrust issues in the U.S. that the 7-Eleven owner has raised as one of its biggest concerns regarding the takeover proposal.

"Even to this day we are trying to have meetings. It's hard. Actually, it's not possible," Bouchard said, adding, "we may be able to enhance our proposal through due diligence as we form a greater understanding of the opportunity."

Seven & i said in a statement on Thursday that it believes Couche-Tard didn't provide specific solutions to clear the antitrust issues at the news conference.

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