TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) – Japanese retail giant Seven & i Holdings is in the final stages of talks to take a stake in Polish convenience store operator Zabka Group, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.
Seven & i is considering acquiring Zabka shares held by investment funds, and the size of the investment will likely amount to several hundred billion yen (several billion dollars), the newspaper said.
・No one at Seven & i was immediately available for comment because of a company holiday.
・Seven & i operates 7-Eleven stores worldwide, with Japan and the U.S. its largest markets.
・Seven & i has been under pressure from investors for years over lacklustre returns and faced calls for it to focus on its core convenience store business.
・The company last year agreed to sell off its supermarkets business, comprising stores that are much bigger than convenience stores and which operated under separate brand names, to private equity firm Bain Capital.
・Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski told a news conference that his understanding was that Seven & i is considering buying a double-digit stake in Zabka.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Karol Badohal in Warsaw. Editing by Mark Potter)
