7-Eleven’s sunset sale a job in waiting for the Australian...

7-Eleven’s sunset sale a job in waiting for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (copyright link)

All the attention has focused on two potential buyers: Ampol, Australia’s biggest fuel retailer with 15 per cent of the market, according to IBISWorld data, and Tokyo-based Seven & i Holdings, which runs almost 30 per cent of all 7-Eleven stores globally (and has been under some pressure from its own shareholders to spin-off its 7-Eleven business).

Ampol makes the most sense. There would be ample synergies putting the two together, and Ampol’s been cleaning up its corporate structure, culling its store portfolio and driving down the convenience retail path under capital-minded chief executive Matt Halliday. 7-Eleven could help that push.

The company is also in investors’ good books having managed a seamless rebrand from Caltex, a name attached to former major shareholder Chevron, gone big in New Zealand in a deal already paying rich dividends, and seem off Canadian suitor Couche Tard. Halliday is finding growth and capital returns, and sent $1.2 billion back to shareholders in the past two years. Ampol declined to comment on Monday.