The board of 7-Eleven Inc., the largest U.S. convenience store chain, recommended Thursday that shareholders reject a buyout by its majority owner Seven-Eleven Japan Co.
The Texas-based company said in a statement that its "special committee unanimously determined that the tender offer price of $32.50 per share was inadequate" and "not in the best interests of the shareholders."
The committee instructed the company's financial and legal advisers to contact Seven-Eleven Japan and start discussions on raising the tender offer price.
On Sept. 1, Japan's Seven & I Holdings Co. said its subsidiary, Seven-Eleven Japan, will make a $1 billion offer for the U.S. chain in order to turn it into a wholly owned unit.
Seven & I Holdings currently owns 72.7 percent of the U.S. chain via Seven-Eleven Japan and its wholly owned Delaware-based holding firm, IYG Holding Co. IYG Holding is seeking to buy the remaining shares.
Seven-Eleven Japan has extended its tender offer to Oct. 18 from the initially set deadline of Oct. 3.
The U.S. chain runs or franchises 5,800 7-Eleven stores in the United States and Canada and licenses 22,700 7-Eleven stores across the world.