TOKYO, July 31 : Japan's Seven & i Holdings has formed a strategic partnership with SoftBank Corp, PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui Card, which will each invest 100 billion yen ($620 million) into the 7-Eleven operator, a filing showed on Friday. Each of the three will acquire a 2.27 per cent stake in Seven & i, the filing showed.LY Corp, a SoftBank subsidiary that runs the Line messaging app along with a host of online businesses, also signed the strategic partnership, a release from the companies said.They aim to integrate their customer information and create a loyalty points ecosystem across Seven & i's physical stores and the other companies' online and financial customer bases, the filing said.
The deal also provides welcome investment for Seven & i, which has struggled to turn around its business after batting away a determined takeover attempt by Canadian convenience store rival Alimentation Couche-Tard last year.While Seven & i has carved out and sold off its less profitable business lines to focus on its core convenience store operations, stiff competition in Japan and lacklustre results in North America have weighed on its profits.($1 = 160.3900 yen)
