By Tomohiko Kanai and Miyu Okada / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Seven & i Holdings Co. is considering selling some of its shares in Seven Bank Ltd., the Japanese convenience chain operator's financial arm, to Itochu Corp., sources said Tuesday.

The company plans to announce how the situation is developing soon, the sources said.

Itochu already holds FamilyMart Co. as its subsidiary, but it aims to strengthen its financial business by working across convenience store chains.

Seven Bank has installed about 28,000 ATMs nationwide, in locations such as 7-Eleven stores. As of Sept. 30, Seven & i Holdings owns roughly 46% of Seven Bank's shares through subsidiaries such as Seven-Eleven Japan Co. and Ito-Yokado Co.

After receiving an acquisition proposal from Canadian convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. last year, Seven & i Holdings announced measures to independently increase its corporate value in March. As part of its restructuring, the Japanese company revealed it plans to remove Seven Bank from its consolidated financial statements by reducing its stake to less than 40% by the end of fiscal 2025.

Seven Bank was launched under the name IY Bank in 2001. It is regarded as a pioneer of in-store banking services in Japan, enhancing the usability of convenience stores by installing ATMs.

FamilyMart currently uses "E-net" ATMs a system jointly funded by banks across Japan at its convenience stores, but is considering switching to Seven Bank ATMs to improve usability and reduce costs.

This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal were not involved in the creation of this content.

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May 21, 2025 07:13 ET (11:13 GMT)

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