Convenience Store am/pm Up For Sale

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]Reuters: Japan's am/pm convenience chain for sale
Japan's seventh-largest convenience store chain, am/pm Japan, has been put up for sale in an auction that could draw bids from larger rivals Lawson and FamilyMart... Investment bank Daiwa Securities SMBC has been chosen as a financial adviser to manage the sale, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is not public. am/pm Japan has a network of 1,135 stores and is owned by unlisted retailing group Rex Holdings. The Nikkei business daily had reported earlier on Wednesday that Rex planned to sell am/pm because it has been struggling to turn around the chain, and that Lawson and FamilyMart, the industry's second- and third-largest players, would likely bid. Rex Holdings denied the report: "The newspaper report is completely groundless. There is no truth to it," said Takuro Inoue, executive officer at Rex. A FamilyMart spokesman said it has been approached in the past about investing in am/pm. "We have been asked many times if we were interested in am/pm. We have an interest in them in the sense that they are a rival convenience store but we are now at the stage at which we are monitoring the situation," he said. A spokesman for Lawson said nothing had been decided.

Related FG threads: AM/PM Convenience Store Moves from Oil to Fat and Next Generation Convenience Stores

[bolt_krank]

I bid 1000 yen.

[Mulboyne]

This Asahi article (Japanese) tips Lawson as the most likely bidder after the company won exclusive negotiation rights with am/pm. Lawson would stand to gain a stronger position in central Tokyo with the acquisition.

[Mulboyne]

There's a twist:

Yomiuri: JR East eyeing takeover of am/pm chain

East Japan Railway Co. is considering buying am/pm Japan Co., the country's seventh-largest convenience store chain operator that runs about 1,100 stores, it was learned Friday. The movement of JR East is likely to cause a bidding war against Lawson Inc., the second-largest convenience store chain operator that has been negotiating with am/pm's parent company to take over the chain operator since last autumn. There is a strong probability that the battle between JR East and Lawson will accelerate the reorganization of the convenience store industry.

Rex Holdings Co., which presides over a number of food service firms including the grilled meat restaurant chain Gyu-kaku, holds 62 percent of the am/pm's stocks. JR East is planning to buy all or part of Rex's stake in am/pm and will begin a thorough appraisal of the convenience chain's assets. The purchase price is estimated to be 10 billion yen to 20 billion yen. JR East is planning to continue using the name of am/pm, according to sources. JR East now operates the Newdays chain of convenience stores, which are located mainly in or near train stations. If the railway company succeeds in buying up am/pm, it would control about 1,500 stores, chasing Ministop Co., the fifth-largest convenience store chain operator with 1,900 stores.

More than 70 percent of am/pm stores are located in Tokyo and adjacent prefectures. By unifying product development, stocking and logistics of Newdays with am/pm stores, JR East will be able to build up more efficient network of convenience stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Lawson was the first company to begin negotiating with Rex on taking over am/pm, after Rex decided to sell the company last autumn. With little room left for a chain store operator to open new stores in urban areas crowded with outlets, Lawson is struggling to expand its outlets.

[Iraira]

Whose got a list of the Top Ten conbinis? I figure 7-11 is close to #1, followed by Lawsons then Family Mart, but I wanna know is where the minor players (3F, Daily Yamazaki, MiniStop, etc.) end up on the list. Fuck you, I'm not some kind of kinky conbini freak, I just like whipping this kind of trivia out on the locals now and then....it keeps them from talking to me in broken Engrish...ensuring that I can continue talking to them in broken Jywapanese.

[Bucky]

Whose got a list of the Top Ten conbinis? I figure 7-11 is close to #1, followed by Lawsons then Family Mart, but I wanna know is where the minor players . . ..

You mean like this?:

Store & sales volume

1 Seven Eleven Japan 2,574,306 (20,929)
2 Lawson 1,402,786 (11,404)
3 Family Mart 1,121,838 (9,120)
4 Circle K Sunkus 860,041 (6,992)
5 mini-stop 282,240 (2,294)
6 Daily Yamazaki 206,293 (1,677)
7 ampm Japan 162,536 (,1,321)
8 Seiko Mart 152,529 (1240)
9 Three-F 109,117 (887)
10 poplar 104,161 (846)
11 cocostore 79,228 (644)
12 saveon 59,068 (480)
13 Minami Kyushu Family Mart 40,497 (329)
14 Every-One 40,000 (325)
15 Hot Super Convenience Networks 39,664 (322)
16 Okinawa Family Mart 34,059 (276)
17 cvs-bayarea 27,569 (224)
18 ampm Kansai 23,067 (187)
19 Circle K Shikoku 23,040 (187)
20 Area link 19,800 (160)

Found it here:
http://www.us-ato.jp/english/market/watch/1-2-2.html

[Iraira]

You mean like this?:

Store & sales volume

1 Seven Eleven Japan 2,574,306 (20,929)
2 Lawson 1,402,786 (11,404)
3 Family Mart 1,121,838 (9,120)
4 Circle K Sunkus 860,041 (6,992)
5 mini-stop 282,240 (2,294)
6 Daily Yamazaki 206,293 (1,677)
7 ampm Japan 162,536 (,1,321)
8 Seiko Mart 152,529 (1240)
9 Three-F 109,117 (887)
10 poplar 104,161 (846)
11 cocostore 79,228 (644)
12 saveon 59,068 (480)
13 Minami Kyushu Family Mart 40,497 (329)
14 Every-One 40,000 (325)
15 Hot Super Convenience Networks 39,664 (322)
16 Okinawa Family Mart 34,059 (276)
17 cvs-bayarea 27,569 (224)
18 ampm Kansai 23,067 (187)
19 Circle K Shikoku 23,040 (187)
20 Area link 19,800 (160)

Found it here:
http://www.us-ato.jp/english/market/watch/1-2-2.html

Cool...mindless data...you've provided my morning wood for today! Many blessings upon you.

[Mulboyne]

[omae mona]

Lawson wins?

TOKYO, Feb. 25 KYODO
Lawson Inc., Japan's second-largest convenience store chain operator, plans to acquire smaller rival am/pm Japan Co. for between 14 and 15 billion yen as it seeks to expand its operations in the densely populated Tokyo area, informed sources said Wednesday.
Lawson hopes to better compete with market leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co. by taking over seventh-ranked am/pm Japan, which has over 500 convenience stores in Tokyo's 23 wards, the sources said.

[Catoneinutica]

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Lawson abandons bid to acquire am/pm Japan

Lawson Inc., the nation's second-largest convenience store chain, abandoned its bid to acquire smaller rival am/pm Japan Co., the company announced Tuesday. In February, Lawson reached a basic agreement with am/pm Japan's parent company to buy the nation's seventh-largest chain. However, Lawson failed to come to an agreement with am/pm International Inc., which owns the am/pm trademark, over Lawson's desire to change the convenience store chain's name. Rex Holdings Co. remains unchanged in its desire to sell am/pm so as to use its management resources exclusively for the operation of its chain restaurants and supermarkets specializing in selling foods, according to sources. The company will search for a new negotiating partner to sell the chain, they said. The am/pm chain runs about 1,100 stores, mainly in Tokyo and adjacent prefectures. Lawson had been planning to close unprofitable locations and change some of the stores' names to Lawson after acquiring the chain, the sources said. But am/pm International has requested Lawson keep the am/pm name at about 700 stores. Lawson has refused the request, the sources said.

[OKLAHOMA]

See what I mean? KONBINI are central to your existence.

[james]

we finally got our first 24 hr. convenience store here about four or five years ago, i guess. up until then it was impossible to buy any good stuff after about 10 p.m. without driving about 45 mins of town.

one can say what they will about convenience stores, but i feel much better now just knowing that there's a place i can go at 2 a.m. to buy - should the need arise - some rope, a bellows, some lubricant, a small fold-up chair and chocolate ice-cream.

[CrankyBastard]

we finally got our first 24 hr. convenience store here about four or five years ago, i guess. up until then it was impossible to buy any good stuff after about 10 p.m. without driving about 45 mins of town.

one can say what they will about convenience stores, but i feel much better now just knowing that there's a place i can go at 2 a.m. to buy - should the need arise - some rope, a bellows, some lubricant, a small fold-up chair and chocolate ice-cream.

OK, I'll bite.
What you gonna do with the ice cream, and why chocolate?
:-O

[james]

[Cyka UchuuJin]

we finally got our first 24 hr. convenience store here about four or five years ago, i guess. up until then it was impossible to buy any good stuff after about 10 p.m. without driving about 45 mins of town.

one can say what they will about convenience stores, but i feel much better now just knowing that there's a place i can go at 2 a.m. to buy - should the need arise - some rope, a bellows, some lubricant, a small fold-up chair and chocolate ice-cream.

i'm always amazed at the random things you find in the conbeni, and how usually the one thing i really need at that moment isn't in there.

[omae mona]

i'm always amazed at the random things you find in the conbeni, and how usually the one thing i really need at that moment isn't in there.

Cyka, actually that one thing IS there. They just consider it very embarrassing, so they go to extremes to avoid labeling the product clearly. If you ask the kid at the counter, he will show you where it is.





Just kidding, OK?

[Cyka UchuuJin]

[quote="omae mona"]Cyka, actually that one thing IS there. They just consider it very embarrassing, so they go to extremes to avoid labeling the product clearly. If you ask the kid at the counter, he will show you where it is.



]
hehe!

what is up with the whole discreet bagging of feminine products, but they have no problem chucking condoms and tablets to make you poo right in along with your bento?

[Samurai_Jerk]

hehe!

what is up with the whole discreet bagging of feminine products, but they have no problem chucking condoms and tablets to make you poo right in along with your bento?

Condoms and laxatives? Sounds like my kind of party.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

Condoms and laxatives? Sounds like my kind of party.

shhh! don't give up my day job!

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: FamilyMart offers to buy am/pm

FamilyMart Co., Japan's third-largest convenience store chain operator, has offered an estimated 10 billion yen to buy rival am/pm Japan Co., but a trademark issue could ruin the deal. FamilyMart intends to reach an agreement this week to buy am/pm's stock from its parent company, Rex Holdings Co., sources said. FamilyMart plans to operate all stores under its name and consolidate purchase and distribution operations. The acquisition would move the FamilyMart chain closer in size to Lawson Inc., the second-largest operator in the industry with 9,670 stores. FamilyMart runs 7,600 stores, while am/pm, the seventh-largest convenience store operator, has 1,100. The deal would make FamilyMart the largest operator in Tokyo, surpassing industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co.

However, ampm International, a U.S. company that owns the rights to am/pm's trademark, could stand in the way of the deal. Lawson reached an agreement to buy am/pm for 14.5 billion yen in February, but ampm International opposed Lawson's plan to switch am/pm to its own name after the buyout. Lawson abandoned the acquisition plan in May. If FamilyMart is forced to increase its offer to appease ampm International, it might also back out of the deal, the sources said. While Itochu Corp. owns 31 percent of FamilyMart, FamilyMart has been the main negotiator in the deal so far.