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We report on the bid to buy 7-Eleven, a neighborhood store and a global brand. Here's NPR's Anthony Kuhn.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: 7-Eleven stores in the U.S. and Japan look similar on the outside, but inside is another story.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Japanese).
KUHN: No cheap gas station fare here. Instead, they've got rice balls with grilled salmon, fresh fruits and veggies, tiramisu and creme brulee, ATMs and copy machines. 7-Eleven Japan bought its U.S. relative in 2005. The firm now has more than 84,000 stores in 19 countries. This week, Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard offered to buy 7-Eleven's parent company, Seven & i Holdings. That could create the biggest convenience store company in the world. The question is, will Japanese and U.S. governments and investors approve of the deal? Tomoyuki Isoyama is a business journalist and professor at the Chiba University of Commerce.
TOMOYUKI ISOYAMA: (Through interpreter) I think there is a good chance that the Japanese government will approve the deal. The condition would be that the deal must basically strengthen Japanese companies.
KUHN: For that to be the case, Isoyama says that the company would have to remain at least partly Japanese. Terms of the deal aren't public yet. A key factor is an activist investor, the San Francisco-based ValueAct Capital. They've been pushing to reorganize Seven & i and make it more profitable. Isoyama says Japan's government wants to show it's working to improve corporate governance.
ISOYAMA: (Through interpreter) In the past, it was enough for the government to simply oppose acquisition by a foreign company, but now, they really have to judge whether it is a positive thing for shareholders, both Japanese and foreign.
KUHN: Isoyama notes, though, that in Japan, the people who shop at 7-Eleven tend to be the same ones who buy their stocks.
ISOYAMA: (Through interpreter) Most individual investors are elderly. If the convenience stores around them are being consolidated or shut down, there is a good chance that they will not support this deal.
KUHN: In other words, a foreign company that buys 7-Eleven is not just bagging an iconic brand. They could also be seen as messing with the nation's critical infrastructure.
Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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