Seven & i considering supermarket stake sale ahead of IPO, sources say

By Ritsuko Shimizu

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Seven & i Holdings is considering selling a stake in its supermarket unit ahead of a planned listing of the business, two sources said, as the 7-Eleven owner aims to speed up an overhaul after rejecting a takeover from Alimentation Couche-Tard.

Neither the timeline of the potential sale nor the size of the stake were immediately clear. Seven & i was considering selling to an investor such as a fund, said the sources, both of whom had knowledge of the matter but declined to be identified because the information has not been made public.

The supermarket business includes the Ito-Yokado chain, one of Japan's best-known grocery store businesses.

Seven & i last month rejected a buyout offer from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard saying the price was too low. The Japanese company in April said it was considering listing the supermarket business as early as the 2027 financial year.

Selling down some of its stake in the supermarket business would allow Seven & i to bring in a partner that could accelerate its overhaul of the unit, one of the sources said. That would also free up its resources to better focus on its core convenience store unit, the source added.

A Seven & i spokesperson said the information was not something released by the company and nothing had been decided at this time.

The Nikkei newspaper, which earlier reported that Seven & i was looking to sell down its stake in the businesses, said it may disclose the plan at its earnings on Oct. 10.

Separately, Bloomberg news reported the company has approached private equity funds and other parties about a potential sale of Ito-Yokado and supermarkets, citing people familiar with the matter.

Based on earnings multiples, the sale value could reach 320 billion yen ($2.19 billion), Bloomberg said, citing one of the sources. That follows a report on Thursday that Seven & i was considering selling part of its Seven Bank unit.

Last month, the parent company of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain rejected a $38.5 billion offer from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard that would have been the largest corporate foreign buyout of a Japanese company.

Seven & i has been under pressure from investor ValueAct Capital in recent years to improve its asset allocation and has sold down stakes in other lower-performing assets.

Seven & i said in April it was considering a listing of its superstore business, which mainly comprises supermarkets, as part of a plan to maximise corporate value.

($1 = 146.4400 yen)

(Reporting by Ritsuko Shimizu; Additional reporting by Rocky Swift and Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Sonali Paul, David Dolan and David Evans)