Thai conglomerate CP All Plc — which holds the Thai franchise for 7-Eleven — is also weighing plans to take an equity stake in the management buyout of about ¥500 billion, the people said, joining a plan hatched by Seven & i’s founding Ito family and Familymart-operator Itochu Corp. last year.
The consortium proposing to take Seven & i Holdings Co. private has tapped Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. for financing, adding to a growing group of players in the potentially record-breaking management buyout bid, people familiar with the matter said.
The two US banks’ role in the bid would be to refinance the debt of Seven & i’s US unit, one of the people said. The company had debt of ¥2.7 trillion (US$17.8 billion or $23.96 billion) as of November, 56% of which belongs to the overseas convenience store operations, according to the company’s financial results. Banks typically pass on such debt to outside investors.
