(Reuters) -Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) and Japan’s Seven & i said they have signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that will give the Canadian company access to the Japanese retailer’s financial data as it seeks an acquisition.
The move represents progress in takeover talks for Couche-Tard, which operates the Circle-K convenience stores in Canada and the United States and has been trying to acquire Seven & i since August.
The detailed terms of the agreement will remain confidential, Seven & i said in a statement on Thursday. The agreement also includes a “standstill” clause, which protects target companies from hostile takeovers.
Paul Yonamine, who chairs Seven & i’s independent special committee to examine bids, said in the statement, “The execution of the NDA is a positive step in the constructive engagement process with ACT.”
Seven & i shares were up 2.7% in early trade in Tokyo on Thursday.
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru, Mariko Katsumura and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Editing by Alan Barona, Sonali Paul and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
