It is no secret that Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSE:ATD) has been actively pursuing ownership of Seven & i, the Japanese company behind the 7-Eleven chain. But even after plans emerged in which Seven & i would spin off its North American business, Couche-Tard seemed nonplussed by the notion of waiting for the spin-off to happen. Shareholders were not happy, and shares slid nearly 1.5% in Thursday morning’s trading.
Couche-Tard founder and executive chairman, Alain Bouchard, noted that Couche-Tard was “…continuing to pursue a friendly, mutually agreeable transaction…” to get its hands on Seven & i. Couche-Tard also, however, noted that the process was proving oddly frustrating, as Seven & i brass was not especially interested in engaging. The talks have been slow to say the least, and Couche-Tard is trying to change some minds.
But Seven & i seems to have its own plan in place. We already know about the North American spin-off plans. And, for its part, Seven & i seems convinced that Couche-Tard does not have solutions—at least, not sufficiently specific—to make Seven & i get interested in jumping into a deal that is likely to be broken by regulators in the United States.
Ditch the States
One point that Seven & i came back to is the lack of specific planning to get around antitrust regulation. In fact, Seven & i actually had a good plan for Couche-Tard to use, though it is a fairly drastic one: sell off its Circle K locations in the United States. All of them.
7-Eleven is actually a pretty big operation in the United States. As of February 2025, there were just over 9,200 locations scattered over 38 states. So for Couche-Tard to pick them up, alongside the Circle K locations it already owned, would have likely made for raised eyebrows with the Federal Trade Commission, even without the threat of Lina Khan that we saw in the last administration. Seven & i actually cited the recent failed merger of Albertsons (ACI) and Kroger (KR) as support for its plan.
Is Alimentation Couche-Tard Stock a Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on TSE:ATD stock based on seven Buys assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 16.08% loss in its share price over the past year, the average TSE:ATD price target of C$88 per share implies 28.54% upside potential.
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