A Canadian convenience store giant has made a bid worth $38bn (£29.2bn) for the Japanese-owned 7-Eleven in what could be the country’s record foreign takeover.
Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) made the approach for the chain – a staple across Asia and North America – on Monday.
ACT’s footprint in the US and Canada would more than double to more than 20,000 sites if the deal goes ahead.
The news comes after the Japanese stock market was rocked by record swings earlier this month.
Convenience stores that rely on technology instead of cashiers to keep things ticking over might sound like a futuristic notion, but there are a number of such concepts being tested around the world. 7-Eleven is the latest to enter the fray, today announcing a trial of a new store in Texas that will be unstaffed with customers left to their own devices.
The store is located at 7-Eleven’s headquarters in Irving, Texas, and will be available only to the company’s employees, with a view to rolling it out to the general public if things go well.
The Internal Revenue Service announced this week that taxpayers who need to make a payment in cash can now do so at 7-Eleven convenience stores.
While it may seem unusual to pay your taxes where you might otherwise pick up a Slurpee, it caters to a large number of Americans who do not have a bank account or credit card. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation estimates one in 13 households in the U.S. do not have a bank account.
“We continue to look for new ways to provide services for our taxpayers … this provides a new way for people who can only pay their taxes in cash without having to travel to an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
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