Seven & i Holdings to buy Sunoco’s convenience stores and petrol stations for $3.3 bn

Japanese diversified retail group Seven & i Holdings Co, operator of the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores, today struck a deal to buy Sunoco LP's convenience stores and petrol stations for about $3.3 billion, in order to expand in the US.

The deal comes a little more than a year after its US unit 7-Eleven Inc acquired 79 stores in California and Wyoming from CST Brands Inc.

Seven & i Holdings said that 7-Eleven would acquire about 1,108 convenience stores and petrol stations in Texas and other Eastern states from Sunoco.

The assets being acquired reported 2016 operating income of $103 million on revenue of $7.7 billion.

7-Eleven will sign a contract with Sunoco to provide gasoline to the stations for the next 15 years.

Seven & i, the world's largest convenience store operator,  has about 19,400 7-Eleven stores in Japan and 8,700 in the US and Canada, and aims to increase its number of stores to 10,000 over the three by fiscal 2020.

"The US convenience store market has growth momentum. We see opportunities there," Seven & i president Ryuichi Isaka said at an earnings briefing after announcing the Sunoco deal.