TOKYO: Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. and U.S. investment funds were among those that applied in the first round of bidding for Seven & i Holdings Co.’s supermarket and other operations, it was learned Thursday.

Seven & i will begin assessing the bids for York Holdings Co., its wholly owned intermediate holding company that controls 31 units including supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co., in order to sell over half of its stake by February 2026.

Bids were placed by Sumitomo, which runs the Summit supermarket chain in the Tokyo metropolitan area, as well as U.S. funds KKR and Fortress Investment Group LLC.

York Holdings, founded only last month, also controls variety store operator The Loft Co. and baby goods retailer Akachan Honpo Co.

Seven & i apparently aims to raise its corporate value by giving up some of its stake in York Holdings and focusing on its convenience store business, in order to avoid being acquired by Canadian convenience store chain Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Alimentation Couche-Tard has offered to buy Seven & i for about 7 trillion yen, which the Japanese retail giant is considering countering with a management buyout chiefly by a founding family.

JIJI Press