Japanese retailer Seven & I announced a stock exchange agreement with supermarket affiliate York-Benimaru today (11 April) that will make the latter a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seven & I.
Seven & I, which operated Seven Eleven convenience stores in Japan, will offer 0.88 of its shares for one York-Benimaru share in the swap scheduled to take place on 1 September.
“Seven & I Holdings positions York Benimaru as the core of its supermarket sector, and our group has decided to make York Benimaru its wholly-owned subsidiary based on the understanding that in order to swiftly and flexibly respond to the cataclysmic changes in today’s society, including the rapid ageing of the population, the low birthrate and the subsequent population decrease, it is necessary to unify and accelerate the management function, and simultaneously, to take advantage of the comprehensive strength of our operations, merchandising, shop network, and cost management skills,” Seven & I said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Seven & I will issue 30,580,237 new shares for the purpose of the exchange.
York-Benimaru operates about 110 supermarkets in northern Japan.
