Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) and Seven & I, two of the largest convenience operators in North America, are reportedly taking steps to divest thousands of stores they collectively own in North America to ease regulatory concerns ahead of a potential merger, and are now faced with an early test of the plan—attracting rival buyers for the stores.

“The two store operators are likely to struggle to solicit offers from other convenience store chains that might be wary of their own potential antitrust risks arising from such a deal, according to people familiar with the matter and several antitrust experts. Seven & i owns the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, which has more than 12,000 stores in the U.S.,” reports Reuters.

Most of the interested buyers for the stores are private equity firms, the sources said. This “creates a potential headache for Canada's Couche-Tard and Japan's Seven & i as U.S. antitrust regulators typically frown upon private equity firms as buyers of divested stores, as they are unlikely to be long-term owners.”

The divestiture package proposed by the companies consists of more than 2,000 U.S. stores. However, there is no precedent for private-equity ownership of convenience stores carved out in the aftermath of a big merger, experts said.

Let’s repeat these words: there’s no precedent for private-equity ownership of convenience stores.

There’s plenty of precedent for private equity firms to pilfer other industries, with inevitable results of eventually discarding the companies bought on the cheap after sucking all the value out of them. Or so the anti-capitalist media likes to say.

Let us make a two-penny prediction on the future of these 2,000 or so c-stores.

In a few years, many of these stores will reappear on the market, and sold individually at premium to the interested parties.

These parties will, or will not, make good use of their purchases. The outcomes shall vary, based on multiple factors, included, of course, the business savvy and experience of the new owners.

What about today, though? What impact all this will have on here-and-now business at the convenience stores around the country?

It will be, mostly, trivially small – after all, we have over 152 thousand c-stores across the country, and 2,000 is just slightly more than a single percent. So, not much – but still, while these stores are going through ownership change, their local competitors may wish to actively promote their offerings, adjusted to the tastes of additional visitors.

It’s not an easy task, of course. But this is where Ticon can help.