US fund Artisan urges Seven & i to allow due diligence on Couche-Tard buyout offer

TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. fund Artisan Partners (NYSE:) urged the board of Seven & i Holdings to allow Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) to conduct due diligence and negotiate a purchase price in its bid to take over the Japanese retail giant.

In a letter dated Oct. 15, Artisan portfolio managers David Samra and Benjamin Herrick said a restructuring plan announced by Seven & i last week was “too little, too late”.

“The price currently being offered by ACT is clearly superior to the speculative value that could potentially be achieved by implementing the restructuring plan at this late date,” they said in the letter.

The Canadian company announced a preliminary bid for Seven & i in August, and sources said last week it has since hiked its offer by 22% to around $47 billion. If the deal goes ahead, it would be the largest ever overseas buyout of a Japanese firm.

Artisan holds 1.11% of Seven & i’s outstanding shares, LSEG data showed.