Couche-Tard will need to hike Statoil retail bid: analyst

The Canadian convenience store giant is eyeing Germany for its next big move after it digests its proposed takeover of Norwegian service station operator Statoil Fuel and Retail ASA

MONTREAL — Supermarket chain Metro Inc. is selling nearly half of its 25-year investment in convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard to three Canadian banks for $479-million. The Montreal-based company announced Tuesday that it has agreed to sell 10 million Class B subordinate voting shares to BMO Nesbitt Burns, National Bank Financial and TD Securities for $47.90 per share. The sale to be completed within three days represents about 7.2% of Couche-Tard’s (TSX:ATD.B) outstanding B shares, which closed down 30 cents to $48.98 in Tuesday trading.

MONTREAL — Metro Inc. is launching a share buy back program in the wake of selling a large stake in its 25-year investment in Alimentation Couche-Tard. The grocer says it intends to buy up to 2 million common shares from arm’s-length, third-party sellers at a discount to the market price at the time it buys the stock. There has been speculation over how Metro would use the estimated $380-million in net proceeds from the sale of nearly half its stake in convenience store operator Couche-Tard.

MONTREAL — Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is quietly moving to franchise an unknown number of its owl-logoed convenience stores in Quebec as it stares down an effort by organized labour to unionize its network in the province.

Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc is to buy Norwegian company Statoil Fuel and Retail ASA (SFR) for an agreed US$2.8 billion to gain a foothold in Europe’s top-performing economies

After extending the deadline of its original offer Tuesday, Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard has increased its takeover offer for Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ: CASY) to $38.50 per share in cash, or approximately $2 billion.

Casey's General Stores Inc. rejected a hostile bid from fellow convenience-store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. that Couche-Tard valued at $1.9 billion.

If Metro Inc. wants to use the estimated $416-million in after-tax proceeds from the sale of its 11% stake in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., there are several acquisition options it may consider. David Hartley, a retail analyst at Credit Suisse, highlighted four such opportunities in Canada.