TOKYO, Jan 10 — Shares in 7-Eleven’s parent rose more than seven per cent on Friday after a report that US investment firm Apollo is eyeing a US$9.5 billion (RM42.7 billion) stake in the owner of the world’s biggest convenience store chain.

Japan’s Seven & i last year rejected a takeover offer worth nearly US$40 billion from Circle K parent Alimentation Couche-Tard, prompting the Canadian firm reportedly to sweeten its bid by 20 per cent.

Seven & i then said in November that it was studying a counteroffer from the company’s founding Ito family that reportedly was worth around eight trillion yen (RM227 billion).

Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Apollo Global Management was considering taking an equity stake in that bid worth as much as 1.5 trillion yen.

The Ito family is weighing a commitment of around 500 billion yen and Itochu Corp, which owns the FamilyMart chain, more than one trillion yen, Bloomberg reported, quoting unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Other partners are still negotiating stakes as part of the plan, which is subject to change, and the rest of the financing would come from Japan’s top banks, the report said.

It added that the total valuation buyout offer was originally planned to be nine trillion yen but that this may be lowered as Seven & i’s market value — 6.3 trillion yen on Friday — was now considerably lower.

Seven & i’s finance chief Yoshimichi Maruyama said on Thursday that the firm was still considering both the Couche-Tard offer and the family buyout proposal.

"We will make a decision based on how we can maximise our corporate and shareholder value,” local media quoted Maruyama as saying.

"We don’t have enough information to make a judgement at this point,” he said, adding that it may end up rejecting both proposals to pursue a "standalone” strategy.

Neither Seven & i nor Apollo were available for comment.

Seven & i shares closed up 4.86 per cent on Friday at 2,490.00 yen, having risen as much as 7.4 percent earlier in the day. — AFP