7-Eleven Parent Company Denies Interest in CST Brands

TOKYO — Seven & i Holdings Co. has no interest in buying CST Brands Inc. in its entirety, according to multiple news reports.

Minoru Matsumoto, Tokyo-based spokesperson for the parent of 7-Eleven Inc., confirmed to Bloomberg in a phone interview that 7-Eleven will not make a bid to acquire CST Brands, even as the retailer looks to expand its number of U.S. stores.

Seven & i and CST Brands, parent of Corner Store locations, did ink a deal recently, however. As CSNews Online reported on May 5, the world’s largest convenience store operator will acquire 79 CST Brands locations in California and Wyoming, as the San Antonio-based convenience store operator exits these states. The transaction, which carries a $408 million-price tag, is being considered an asset swap by CST Brands for tax purposes, effectively in exchange for Flash Foods Inc. stores it recently acquired.

7-Eleven’s acquisition of these western U.S. c-stores is expected to close next month.

If 7-Eleven and its parent company are not involved in the bidding war, that would still leave the potential for three or more companies to submit bids to buy CST Brands. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., parent to the global Circle K brand, as well as private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Apollo Global Management LLC, have reportedly been interested in submitting bids to acquire CST Brands.

After rising more than 18 percent per share during Thursday trade on the New York Stock Exchange, CST Brands shares dropped by more than 3 percent in Friday morning trade. After this decline, CST carries a market capitalization of approximately $3.3 billion.

CST Brands Inc. operated 1,054 core U.S. retail c-stores as of March 31, with an additional 495 locations in Canada. It also had what it classified as 165 non-core U.S. retail stores as of March 31.