Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard is discussing how much it could raise its offer price to buy Japan’s Seven & i Holdings, Bloomberg news reported on Thursday.
The report cited unnamed sources familiar with Couche-Tard’s internal talks as it seeks to buy the company that operates the popular 7-Eleven convenience chain.
Couche-Tard said earlier this week that it was willing to continue buyout talks after Seven & i rejected its €38.5 billion offer.
Bloomberg reported that Couche-Tard must offer a significantly higher price than the initial proposal to get Seven & i to enter negotiations, but whether the suitor will submit another proposal to Seven & i remains uncertain, according to the sources.
The Financial Times separately reported that Seven & i has tapped Nomura to advise its board in preparation for a potential takeover battle with Couche-Tard.
Seven & i declined to comment on the raise offer price and advisor appointment. Nomura similarly declined to comment on its reported appointment.
Shares in Seven & i had risen more than 4% at the end of morning trade on Thursday to $15.44, higher than the $14.86 per share Couche-Tard proposed.
Couche-Tard has said it was confident of arranging financing for the deal, which would be the largest-ever foreign takeover of a Japanese company.
Seven & I said last week that the deal was not in the best interests of its shareholders and could face antitrust challenges in the US, where the combined company of Circle K and 7-Eleven would be the biggest convenience store operator by a considerable margin.
Read More: Circle K Owner Alimentation Couche-Tard Makes Bid For 7-Eleven
