JAPAN: Circle K and Sunkus to be held by C & S Co.

From July 2001, C&S Co. will hold 100% of Japanese convenience stores Circle K Japan Co. and Sunkus & Associates Inc, the latest move in accordance with a business and capital alliance agreement that was initiated two years ago.The convenience store groups released details of the signed memorandum yesterday (7 September). It enables an integration of their operations while maintaining their independent management, and the new holding company looks to gain revenue of Y892.5bn by February 2002.Circle K and Sunkus controlled over 5000 Japanese stores at the end of June, and they plan to open a further 500 each year. The sales of Circle K and its franchised stores reached Y391.54bn during the last fiscal year and Sunkus notched up Y342.27bn.Previously, the 1998 agreement had enabled Circle K and its parent company, UNY, to buy stakes in Sunkus, and these had reached 25.54% and 25.53% respectively. Before the new deal is completed these stakes will be upped, with Circle K owning Sunkus through an equity swap where one Sunkus share will be exchanged for 0.9 Circle K share.By the end of the agreement, it has been revealed that Circle K aims to surrender its operations to a new company and become itself the holding company C&S, in which a stake of 46.69% will be held by UNY.