First 7-Eleven, now Zabka: Canadian convenience giant Alimentation
After failing to buy a French grocer and one of the biggest convenience store chains in the world, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has a new takeover target.
The Laval, Que.-based owner of Couche-Tard and Circle K stores announced Friday that it’s going after Polish convenience store operator Zabka Group.
Couche-Tard said it made an offer valued at more than $12 billion for a controlling stake in Zabka. The voluntary tender offer prices Zabka at 32 Polish zloty, or roughly $11.90 Cdn, per share.
A successful closure of the deal would mark Couche-Tard’s largest acquisition ever and fulfil its longtime goal of greatly expanding its empire.
Zabka, which gets its name from the Polish word for frog, has more than 13,000 convenience stores across Poland and Romania.
Alimentation Couche-Tard, which often uses an owl mascot, counts 17,300 locations across 27 countries. Nearly 400 of those stores are in Poland.
The businesses have much in common. Both sell a dizzying array of beverages and snacks and have delved deeper into hot food in recent years.
At Zabka, one in every five transactions includes a quick-serve meal, and some of its locations are fully autonomous.
Meanwhile, beverages and fuel are the stars at Couche-Tard. About 13,200 of the chain’s locations have gas stations, while Zabka doesn’t offer fuel at all.
“This is not about one company teaching another,” Couche-Tard CEO Alex Miller said on an analyst call to discuss the proposed transaction. “It is about bringing together complementary strengths and a common ambition to better serve our customers.”
Within three years of a deal closing, he said he expects to uncover about $250 million US in cost savings.
The transaction was in some ways a long time in the making. Miller said he and other Couche-Tard executives, including founder and former chief executive Alain Bouchard, had been eyeing Zabka for 15 years at least.
Their attention, however, was diverted to other targets at times.
In 2021, Couche-Tard made a $20 billion US play for French grocery chain Carrefour SA. It later backed away from the offer after France opposed the deal over food-security concerns.
Even after it bought about 2,200 European gas stations from French oil company TotalEnergies SE for $3.3 billion US in 2023, Couche-Tard remained hungry for more.
In 2024, Couche-Tard spent nearly a year trying to buy Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese parent of 7-Eleven, but withdrew its proposal in July 2025, after the two sides clashed over valuation, engagement and regulatory risks.
Media reports suggested Seven & i was also looking at Zabka but abandoned the plan after the two failed to agree on potential terms.
Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Quebec-based firm, has pulled its…
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