This year’s biggest energy deal is more about alcohol and cigarettes than gasoline.
7-Eleven owner Seven & I Holdings Co. is spending $21 billion (about ¥2 trillion) to buy about 4,000 gas stations in the U.S. from Marathon Petroleum Corp., the latest in a long line of oil refiners exiting their retail networks.
The transaction shows how, despite the global slump in energy demand due to COVID-19 lockdowns, the business of selling fuel is in comparatively rude health.