Canadian gas and retail convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is making a big splash in international business circles this morning with acquisition plans for GetGo Café +Markets and Japan-based Seven & i Holdings Co., which owns the 7-Eleven chain.

GetGo, owned and operated by Pennsylvania's Giant Eagle, Inc., is a convenience store and fuel chain with approximately 270 locations in the U.S. and around 3,500 employees.

Laval, Que.-based Couche-Tard (ATD-T) has over 16,700 stores around the world and employs approximately 149,000 people, with notable convenience store brands such as Couche-Tard and Circle K.

"We are excited to welcome GetGo into the Couche-Tard family. As we learn more about the GetGo business, it is clear that it has built a strong and passionate customer base with high quality stores staffed by talented and engaged teams working to deliver a great experience,” Brian Hannasch, president and CEO of Couche-Tard, said in an announcement.

The transaction enhances Giant Eagle’s focus on its supermarket and pharmacy businesses, Giant Eagle’s CEO Bill Artman said in a release.

The acquisition is expected to close in 2025, subject to regulatory and closing conditions. It will be financed using Couche-Tard’s cash and/or existing credit facilities.

The companies have not released the financial details of the transaction.

About GetGo and Couche-Tard's acquisition activities

Acquired in the early 2000s by Giant Eagle, GetGo was part of a diversification strategy into gas stations by its owner. Giant Eagle reports operating 175 corporate and 54 independently owned and operated supermarkets and 178 fuel and convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana.

The stores are made up of its Giant Eagle, Market District, GetGo and Curbside Express banners.

The spate of dealmaking by Couche-Tard is not new. In January, the company closed acquisitions of European retail assets from French oil supermajor TotalEnergies SA. The purchase covered 2,175 sites - over half in Germany, a quarter in Belgium, and the remainder in Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Its effort to acquire French retailer Carrefour SA was blocked by the French government in 2021, with food security and national interests cited as reasons for the halting.

Couche-Tard reports a revenue of $17.6 billion US (C$24 billion) in a 12-week period ended April 28, 2024. A profit of $2.8 billion US and net earnings of $456 million were reported.

Sets sights on 7-Eleven

As it announced the deal for GetGo, Couche-Tard also confirmed it is in preliminary discussions to Seven & i, which would be the largest takeover of a Japanese firm and create a convenience store titan of approximately 100,000 stores if finalized, Bloomberg reports.

Currently a non-binding, friendly proposal according to statements by both the firms, the acquisition of Seven & i (SVNDY) values the company at $31 billion US. Though it has fewer stores, Couche-Tard is valued at $58.5 billion US.

If a deal is firmed up, it could face obstacles from regulators in North America; Seven & i operates over 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada, while Couche-Tard has approximately 9,000.

In morning trading, Couche-Tard saw its stock dip under one per cent as of 11 a.m. Seven & i's stock rose approximately 27 per cent in the same period.