By Rocky Swift and Kevin Buckland
TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. fund Artisan Partners (NYSE:) Asset Management has stepped up pressure on Japan’s Seven and i holdings and called on the board to provide an update on a takeover bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard by September 19 ( ACT). .
In a letter dated Friday to journalists, Artisan portfolio managers N. David Samra and Benjamin L. Herrick advised Seven & i, operator of the 7-Eleven supermarket chain in Japan, to seriously consider ACT’s offer and solicit offers for the Japanese subsidiaries of the company “as soon as possible”.
“ACT is uniquely positioned to increase (Seven & i’s) business value,” Samra and Herrick wrote.
“Negotiating with ACT is the best tactic to sustain positive outcomes for stakeholders in Japan,” they said. “It is imperative that the board immediately negotiates with ACT to achieve the best possible outcome for shareholders.”
Artisan’s letter, which was highly critical of Seven & i’s track record of increasing corporate value, highlights the pressure shareholders are putting on the company over the potential deal, which is likely to be the largest ever foreign takeover of would be a Japanese company.
ACT, the owner of Circle-K convenience stores, said last week it had approached Seven & i about a possible acquisition, without disclosing a potential deal value.
Artisan has been a critic of Seven & i’s management and structure since 2019, when the letter states it became a shareholder. It says it is an active – and not activist – shareholder, concerned with the management and boards of directors of companies. (This story has been corrected to correct the spelling of ‘nutrition’ in paragraph 1)
