Japanese trading house Itochu Corp. is in talks to buy convenience store chain Am/pm Japan Co., in a bid to match the number of stores of Lawson Inc, the country’s number two c-store retailer.
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If the deal is successful, Itochu’s convenience store business, which includes about 7,400 outlets operated by third-largest firm FamilyMart Co., will expand to about 8,500. Lawson has a network of 8,600 stores, while Seven-Eleven Japan has 12,000 stores.
In March, Lawson announced it had given up on plans to acquire am/pm.
Should the deal with Itochu go ahead, it would lead to more consolidation at the top of the sector, as Itochu has a business tie-up with Uny, the owner of Circle K Sunkus.
“There’s already a lot of informal ties out there and with new convenience stores increasingly difficult to open both in terms of finding good locations and cost, and Seven Eleven so far ahead of everyone else, M&A would seem a highly probable strategy,” said a Tokyo retail analyst.
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