Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese operator of the Seven-Eleven chain, gained approval last month from the Federal Trade Commission (FTA) to buy Speedway, a US convenience store chain formerly owned by US oil refiner Marathon Petroleum, after addressing a number of anti-trust concerns.
In August last year, Seven & i Holdings first announced that it intended buy Speedway for US$21 billion at the beginning of new year. However, in March it revealed that it had to delay its purchase of Speedway due an FTA review.
By May, Marathon Petroleum and Seven & i Holdings announced that they had closed the US$21 billion deal.
However, two FTC officials related to the US Democratic Party, former Acting Chair Rebecca Slaughter and Commissioner Rohit Chopra, deemed the transaction as illegal on anti-trust grounds. The Republican Party commissioners disagreed, and due to one seat being vacant, the FTC was split 2-2.
In June, Lina Khan was appointed chair, allowing the FTC to function normally once again.
On May 17, Seven & i Holdings issued a press release in which it said Seven-Eleven and the FTC had reached an agreement to resolve concerns relating to Seven-Eleven’s 293 fuel outlets.
Last month, the FTC confirmed that it had agreed to the deal, provided that all the stores, including both Speedway and Seven-Eleven convenience stores, include gas stations in twenty states as specified by the FTC.
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