06:25 AM EDT, 08/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Circle K operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. ( ANCTF ) made a proposal to take over much larger rival and 7-Eleven owner Seven & i Holdings Co., in what would be the biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese company. A merger would create a global network of roughly 100,000 convenience stores, the world's biggest, Bloomberg News is reporting Monday.

Valued at the equivalent of $31 billion before news of the offer emerged, Seven & i shares jumped 23% on Monday. The company said the bid was preliminary and non-binding, without disclosing terms. A special committee of independent outside directors will make a "prompt, careful and comprehensive review of the proposal," Seven & i said in a statement Monday.

Although Couche-Tard is smaller than Seven & i, with about 14,000 stores compared with more than 85,000 for the Japanese retailer, the Canadian company enjoys a bigger valuation of about $58.5 billion. Foreign takeovers of Japanese companies are extremely rare, but recent changes in guidelines for merger and acquisition proposals, and activist investors pushing companies to boost value - including at Seven & i - could boost the odds of a deal that would create a global convenience-store behemoth.

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