Couche-Tard May Boost Offer for Casey's Following Bid by Japan's 7-Eleven
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the Canadian operator of 24-hour convenience stores, said it would consider boosting its $38.50 bid for Casey’s General Stores Inc. following a $40-a-share offer from 7-Eleven Inc.
Couche-Tard said in a letter to Casey’s board that it expected an equal opportunity to participate in the bidding process and asked Casey’s to delay by two or three weeks its annual meeting, which is scheduled for Sept. 23.
An acquisition of Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s would give the successful bidder more than 1,500 stores in the U.S. Midwest. Couche-Tard first made an unsolicited bid for Casey’s in April. It has raised its offer twice.
Raymond Pare, chief financial officer at the Laval, Quebec- based Couche-Tard, declined to comment. Casey’s CFO Bill Walljasper and Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven, didn’t immediately return calls for comment.
Casey’s said yesterday it entered talks with 7-Eleven, a unit of Japan’s Seven & I Holdings Co., after receiving an unsolicited bid, confirming reports that cited people familiar with the matter. Casey’s had said two days earlier it was in discussions with an undisclosed third party that had made a $40- a-share bid.
Casey’s has said that Couche-Tard’s latest offer fails to reflect the stock’s value.
Seven & I rose 47 yen to 2010 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Casey’s fell 44 cents to $43.51 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Couche-Tard fell 5 cents to C$23 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading.
To contact the reporter on this story: Burt Helm at bhelm3@bloomberg.net
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