(July 10): SoftBank Corp and its payments affiliate are considering buying a stake worth several hundred billion yen in Seven & i Holdings Co, people familiar with the matter said.
The operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores may issue new shares that will be acquired by SoftBank and PayPay Corp, Japan’s dominant payments app, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations aren’t public. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc’s credit card unit is also considering joining the deal.
A deal would unite two of Japan’s major payments service providers with the country’s number one convenience-store network, helping them fend off rival retail-payment alliances seeking to capture consumers’ wallets.
SoftBank, PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui are in negotiations and aim to sign a deal this summer, the people said. The discussions are in flux, and there is a chance that a final agreement won’t be reached.
Representatives for SoftBank, PayPay and Seven & i didn’t immediately comment. Sumitomo Mitsui’s card unit declined to comment.
Seven & i’s stock trades near levels in 2024, when Circle K operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. made an unsolicited, and ultimately unsuccessful, takeover proposal for the company. Chief executive officer Stephen Dacus has been working to turn around the Tokyo-based retailer, which underwent a restructuring following Couche-Tard’s ¥6.77 trillion (US$42 billion or $54.2 billion) pursuit that was abandoned a year ago.
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Seven & i operates its own payments and loyalty programme, which could potentially be combined with PayPay’s 74 million users. PayPay, owned by SoftBank, competes against digital-payments and loyalty points networks operated by Rakuten Group Inc and NTT Docomo Inc.
SoftBank has AI tools under development that can automate store operations. Founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to expand the company’s role in the deployment of AI services and infrastructure around the world. PayPay debuted on the Nasdaq in March.
Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaj
