TOKYO, Oct 16 (Reuters) - U.S. fund Artisan Partners

urged the board of Seven & i Holdings ( SVNDF ) to allow Canada's

Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) to conduct due diligence

and negotiate a purchase price in its bid to take over the

Japanese retail giant.

In a letter dated Oct. 15, Artisan portfolio managers David

Samra and Benjamin Herrick said a restructuring plan announced

by Seven & i ( SVNDF ) last week was "too little, too late".

"The price currently being offered by ACT is clearly

superior to the speculative value that could potentially be

achieved by implementing the restructuring plan at this late

date," they said in the letter.

The Canadian company announced a preliminary bid for Seven &

i ( SVNDF ) in August, and sources said last week it has since hiked its

offer by 22% to around $47 billion. If the deal goes ahead, it

would be the largest ever overseas buyout of a Japanese firm.

Artisan holds 1.11% of Seven & i's ( SVNDF ) outstanding shares, LSEG

data showed.

(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)